Statue of Augustus as Pontifex Maximus
Rome, Via Labicana. The emperor Augustus, his head covered, is represented formally dressed in a toga. Near his feet, shod with the calcei patricii, is the capsa, a container for official documents. The position of the right forearm suggests that the princeps is in the act of performing a sacrifice, holding a sacrificial cup (patera) to pour a libation.
The emperor is in the guise of Pontifex Maximus, an office that he assumed in 12 BC and that remained an imperial prerogative until the 4th century AD) as a sacred sanction to imperial power. The office was part of the new political and religious programme promoted by Augustus, who also introduced the cult of the Genius Augusti. The emperor was keen to emphasize the value and significance of the mores maiorum, which were the basis for his political legitimacy: he is thus represented performing his official religious duties wearing the toga, the traditional garment of the Roman gentleman (cives romanus).
The head, worked as a separate piece, is inserted on the torso and shows realistic features that are somewhat imbued with stylistic elements of Hellenistic portraiture. The statue, generally considered a work of the late Augustan period, should probably be dated to the last decade of the 1st century BC.
Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano | Palazzo Massimo alle Terme