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Primary sourceSculptureafter 12 BC

Via Labicana Augustus

after 12 BC

A marble statue of Augustus veiled as chief priest, showing his religious rather than military authority.

A statue of Augustus as Pontifex Maximus, presenting his religious authority as chief priest of Rome.

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White marble statue of a standing man draped in a toga, with his head covered by a fold of the toga. His right arm is broken off at the forearm and his left arm is missing below the elbow. He wears laced shoes on a rectangular base.
Via Labicana Augustus, late 1st century BC. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.

About this source

What it is

This marble statue shows Augustus as Pontifex Maximus, Rome's chief priest, with his head veiled for a religious ceremony. It was made after he took that office around 12 BC, discovered on the Oppian Hill in Rome in 1910, and is now in the National Museum of Rome.

The statue combines two types of marble: the body from a quarry Augustus opened in Italy, the head carved separately from Greek marble, suggesting Roman and Greek sculptors worked together on it. He originally held a shallow dish for pouring offerings to the gods.

Why it matters

Unlike statues showing Augustus as a military leader, this one presents him through religious duty, as head of Rome's state religion. It shows how he used multiple kinds of imagery, political, military and religious, to secure and display his authority, and how Roman portraiture under him idealized rulers as youthful and calm rather than realistically aged.

Look closer

  • Why might Augustus want to be shown as a priest instead of, or alongside, a soldier?
  • What does the veiled head tell you about the Roman idea of religious duty?
  • Why is Augustus shown younger than he actually was at the time?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Augustus on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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