Myth and Community: Prima Porta Augusta



Myth and Community: Prima Porta Augusta 


What is myth? After a discussion in our lecture this week we came to the conclusion that defining myth was near impossible. However, the one definition I did like the sound of and will be using  throughout this blog was by Helen Morales’ (2007:9). She defined myth as “ a complex game of production and reception”, in other words I believe she is saying that myth is everything, it has no boundaries, and this allows it to transcend time and be just as important today as it was when it was first told. 

What does community mean? To me community means a collection of people living together and/or having similar goals. Following on from our discussion in class about the Origins of Erichthonios and the use of this myth as a way to link the whole citizenry body of Athens together via a common origin, I believe that Augustus is deploying a similar tactic linking the mythical founders of Rome to himself and his family. According to the Dictionary of Classical Mythology (2014:180-181)  Erichthonios was the child of 'Athena' and Hephaestus this version of the myth says that Hephaestus was so over come with desire when Athena visited his workshop that he chased the Goddess and during the resultant struggle semen fell on her thigh, in disgust she wiped it of with a piece of wool and threw it on the ground this act resulted in the child Erichthonios being born from the earth (Gaia). Erichthonois went on to take back the crown of Athens back from the usurper Amphictyon and found the Panathenaic festival in Athena's honour.  This gave the city of Athens it's Identity and someone to look back on and say we are descended from him, the son of a god. The same sense of identity and community that Augustus was  trying to create. 
Location in the Vatican Museum  
The use of Myth within this statue must benefit Augustus' agenda some how, So what is this statue doing for Augustus? Paul Zanker in his book The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus says that Augustus used art and mythology as a “visual language that both reflects an altered mentality and contributed significantly to the process of change” (1988:1). So as far as our definition of what myth is this fits perfectly. Augustus has indeed created an elaborate 'game' with the people of Rome, he has designed a narrative he likes and is telling it to the people and they have no other option but to believe him.


Prima Porta is one of the most famous statues to come out of Rome. I was lucky enough to have seen this statue in person in 2014 and again in 2017 during a visit to the Vatican museum where it is now housed. The statue is mounted high up so Augustus is towering over you looking down on the people viewing him, it feels strange standing there it oozes power and authority almost like its real and breathing. I imagine this feeling is exactly what Augustus wanted, this statue is not just beautiful and visually striking it is an excellent example of mythology in Augustan propaganda. 

My photo of the Prima Porta from my visit to the Vatican Museum in 2017 
The statue clearly depicts Augustus, he is shown standing in 'adlocutio' with his right arm out extended in an authoritative gesture. He is depicted as a general addressing his troops. Holland in her article Aeneas-Augustus of Prima Porta points out a striking similarity to an episode from the Aeneid book 12.311 where Aeneas steps forward and raises his hand to stop further bloodshed (Holland 1947:278), Aeneas is also depicted as wearing an elaborate 'cuirass' or breastplate. According to Holland the Aeneid was the inspiration for the design of the Prima Porta. In Roman mythology Aeneas was the son of Venus and a hero from Troy, he is also the supposed ancestor of Romulus and Remus and the founder of the Julian line meaning Augustus can and does claim decent from the Goddess Venus. This connection along with Cupid (Venus' son) riding a dolphin at Augustus right foot further emphasises his divine heritage and his right to rule as his forefathers founded Rome. This is a very clever way of establishing his legitimacy for who would dare challenge the relation of a God. By establishing himself as the new Aeneas he is able to portray himself as another founder of the city, he is stopping further bloodshed just as Aeneas did. This therefore then creates a community it constructs an identity not only for Augustus and his family, but for Rome herself. It teaches, explains and legitimises the Augustan regime.  



The mythology doesn't stop with Aeneas and Venus; in fact it barely starts. One of the most impressive features of the Prima Porta is the 'Cuirass'.
Cuirass of the Prima Porta Augusta Photo:© 2008 Sergey Sosnovskiy



This impressive breastplate depicts many gods and goddesses as well as the infamous return of the lost Parthian standards. The loss of these standards by Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53BCE was a national shame. The left central figure on the breastplate shows a Parthian king handing over a battle eagle to a Roman figure who has a wolf at its feet. Parthia itself is an almost mythical place to the Romans somewhere that they have never managed to conquer so the return of these standards is a momentous occasion, it is even mentioned in the Res Gestae "I compelled the Parthians to restore to me the spoils and standards of three Roman armies and to ask as supplants for the friendship of the Roman people."  The language Augustus uses here is somewhat misleading as this was not a military operation but rather a diplomatic one, the word "supplants" suggests that Parthia was conquered which it was not. This miss representation in both cases creates a myth all of its own, the myth of the defeat and conquer of Parthia, Rome’s ultimate enemy. Barthes in his book mythologies says that myth “abolishes the complexity of human acts, it gives them the simplicity of essences”(Barthes 1957:143) essentially he’s saying that myth has the ability to purifi and gives new meaning to a series of events. This concept is why Augustus uses myth he wants to retell his story.



Below is my breakdown of the Gods and Goddesses on the breastplate of the Prima Porta statue:

Photo © 2008 Sergey Sosnovskiy
Annotations by myself



The breastplate is so rich in mythology thanks to the individual gods and goddesses, however I think the most important thing is a collective role they play by being on the breastplate together. They suggest that the 'victory' over Parthia was the will of the gods and this gives legitimacy to Augustus and constructs an untouchable and infallible identity.

The copy of the Prima Porta statue in the Vatican Museum was found at Livia's villa in Prima Porta  in 1863 (Livia was Augustus' wife). According to Barrows’ 2018 book Gender, Identity and the Body of Greek and Roman Sculpture, the Vatican sculpture is a copy of a bronze original that Augustus would have commissioned after the return of the Parthian standards in 20BCE. Barrow says that the sculpture takes a lot of it influence form the Greek masterpieces "something that wouldn’t have gone un noticed by an elite viewership" (Barrow 2018:93). One of the main influences for the statue is the Doryphorus (the ideal man) the use of this links Augustus to perfection and divinity with the statue almost having a naked feel to it thanks to the almost transparent nature of the breastplate (i.e we can see his abs). The fact that Augustus is wearing no shoes has also not gone unnoticed by scholars such as Muller in his 1941 article The Date of the Augustus from Prima Porta he says that this is a characteristic usually reserved for Gods (gods don't need shoes as they sort of float above the ground). This link to the divine nature of Augustus links to his family, with him being related to Venus and the son of the divine Julius Caesar (divi fillius). Scholars such as Muller also use the fact that he is not wear shoes as ‘proof’ that the statue dates to after Augustus' death in 14CE when he was deified by the Senate

Today we see the statue as a prime example of Roman art and sculpture and the defining image of Augustus, but back then the statue would have been so much more, more than propaganda or myth. For anyone who saw this statue be it this copy or the bronze original, it didn't just represent Augustus. The statue was his proxy, his way of reminding people who may never meet him be this in Rome, Italy or at the edges of the empire that he was in charge and this was okay because he brought with him victory, peace and prosperity. 

As for myth and community, I would say they go hand in hand for myth brings together a community, in this case under one leader, but communities also create myth and that is what Augustus and his Principate did. He created the myth of Augustus, him as an untouchable and godlike character rather than an all powerful man. This carefully crafted image was crucial for Augustus to remain in power. 

Bibliography 

Holland, L. (1947). Aeneas-Augustus of Prima Porta. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 78, 276-284


http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/braccio-nuovo/Augusto-di-Prima-Porta.html (4th October 2019) 


Reeder, J. (1997). The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, the Underground Complex, and the Omen of the Gallina Alba. The American Journal of Philology, 118(1), 89-118


Muller, V. (1941). The Date of the Augustus from Prima Porta. The American Journal of Philology, 62(4), 496-499. 


Barthes, R. (1984) Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers, Hill and Wang, New York. 


Barrow, R.J. (2018) Gender, Identity and the Body in Greek and Roman Sculpture, Cambridge university press, Cambridge


March, J. (2014) Dictionary of Classical Mythology (second edition) Oxbow books, Oxford 

Richardson, J. (2012). Princeps, 29–12 BC. In Augustan Rome 44 BC to AD 14: The Restoration of the Republic and the Establishment of the Empire, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 

Photo of the location in the Vatican Museum - https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ap-ancient-rome/a/augustus-of-primaporta (9th October 2019)

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