View source for Augustus of Prima Porta

{{Short description|Ancient Roman sculpture of Augustus}}
{{Infobox sculpture
| image = Augustus of Prima Porta.jpg
| alt = A marble sculpture of the Roman Emperor Augustus. He is pointing up and away from his body with his right hand. He is wearing an intricately carved breastplate depicting his diplomatic skills. At his right foot is a cherub riding a dolphin, a symbol of his family's relationship to the goddess Venus.
| caption = Augustus of Prima Porta
| title = Augustus of Prima Porta
| artist = Unknown
| year = 1st century AD
| type = [[Marble|White marble]]
| city = Vatican City
| museum = [[Vatican Museums]]
| italic title = no
| coordinates = {{coord|display=it|format=dms}}
| image_size = 270
| mapframe-frame-width = 270
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-caption = Click on the map for a fullscreen view
| mapframe-zoom = 14
| mapframe-marker = monument
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
}}
The '''Augustus of Prima Porta''' ({{langx|it|Augusto di Prima Porta}}) is a full-length [[Roman portraiture|portrait statue]] of [[Augustus]], the first [[Roman emperor]].

The statue was discovered on April 20, 1863, during archaeological excavations directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi at the [[Villa of Livia]] owned by Augustus's third and final wife, [[Livia|Livia Drusilla]] in [[Prima Porta]]. Livia had retired to the [[Roman villa|villa]] after Augustus's death in AD&nbsp;14. Its discovery was first publicized by the German archeologist [[Wilhelm Henzen]] the same year.

Crafted by skilled Greek sculptors, the marble statue is believed to be a copy of a lost original bronze piece displayed in Rome. It blends [[Ancient Greek sculpture|Greek]] and [[Roman sculpture|Roman elements]] to craft an idealized official image of Augustus, its execution showcasing his grasp of visual influence. While the head portrays a realistic youthful Augustus, the body diverges from reality; despite its clothed form, the body's stance reflects the heroic stance found in Greek statues. The detailed armor, depicting a [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] returning standards to a Roman, symbolizes peace along the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire.<ref name="Gates2011">{{Cite book |last=Gates |first=Charles |title=Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome |year=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-83057-4 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=348–349}}</ref> The statue stands {{convert|2.08|m|ftin}} tall and weighs {{convert|1000|kg|lb}}.

The Augustus of Prima Porta is now displayed in the {{lang|it|Braccio Nuovo}} (New Arm) of the [[Vatican Museums]]. Since its discovery, it has become the best known of Augustus's portraits and one of the most famous sculptures of the ancient world.

==Original==
The imagery on the {{lang|la|[[Muscle cuirass|lorica musculata]]}} cuirass (typical of [[Legatus|legates]]<ref>Linnet Moss (2014). [https://linnetmoss.com/2014/03/12/what-the-well-dressed-roman-general-is-wearing/#:~:text=Over%20the%20armor%20he%20wears "What The Well-Dressed Roman General Is Wearing"]. Accessed 30 August 2020.</ref>) refers to the Parthian restitution of the Roman eagles, or insignia, in 20&nbsp;BC, one of Augustus's most significant diplomatic accomplishments. The date of the (hypothetical) bronze original is therefore later than 20&nbsp;BC.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} The detailed armor, depicting a [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] returning standards to a Roman, symbolizes peace along the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire.<ref name="Gates2011"/> The fact that Augustus is depicted barefooted is intended to be a divine representation, as this was a standard depiction of gods or heroes in classical iconography. The date of the marble copy would presumably fall between that date and Livia's death in AD&nbsp;29.

The statue might have been commissioned by Tiberius, the son of Livia and successor to Augustus. This hypothesis is based on the fact that Tiberius, who served as an intermediary in the recovery of the eagles, is also depicted on the cuirass. As this act was the greatest service he had performed for Augustus, the breastplate imagery would remind viewers of Tiberius's connection to the deified emperor and suggest continuity between both reigns. It is also possible that it was commissioned by Livia herself, Augustus's wife at the time of his death.

==Style==
[[File:Brogi, Giacomo (1822-1881) - n. 4123 - Roma - Vaticano - Cesare Augusto - Statua in marmo.jpg|thumb|upright|Version of the statue in 1870 with a staff in his left hand]]

Augustus is shown in his role of ''[[imperator]]'', the commander of the army, as ''thoracatus'' —or commander-in-chief of the Roman army (literally, [[cuirass|thorax]]-wearer)—meaning the statue should form part of a commemorative monument to his latest victories; he is in military clothing, carrying what may have been a spear<ref name="Bradley2009"/> or a consular [[Baton (symbol)|baton]], and raising his right hand in a rhetorical ''[[adlocutio]]'' pose, addressing the troops. The bas-reliefs on his armored [[cuirass]] have a complex allegorical and political agenda, alluding to diverse Roman deities, including [[Mars (mythology)|Mars, god of war]], as well as the personifications of the latest territories he conquered: [[Hispania]], [[Gaul]], [[Germania]], [[Parthia]] (that had humiliated Crassus, and here appears in the act of returning the standards captured from his legions); at the top, the chariot of the Sun illuminates Augustus's deeds.

The statue is an idealized image of Augustus showing a standard pose of a Roman orator<ref name="autogenerated175">{{cite book |last1=Stokstad |first1=Marilyn |title=Art History |publisher=Pearson Education, Inc. |isbn=9780134475882 |page=175 |edition=6th|date=2017-01-06 }}</ref> and based on the 5th-century BC statue of the Spear Bearer or ''[[Doryphoros]]'' by the sculptor [[Polykleitos]]. The ''Doryphoros'''s [[contrapposto]] stance, creating diagonals between tense and relaxed limbs, a feature typical of classical sculpture, is adapted here. The pose of the statue's legs is similar to ''Doryphoros''. The right leg is taut, while the left leg is relaxed, as if the statue is moving forward.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/21h.402/www/primaporta/description/stance/|title=Augustus of Prima Porta|website=web.mit.edu|access-date=2018-11-09}}</ref> The misidentification of the ''Doryphoros'' in the Roman period as representing the warrior [[Achilles]] made the model all the more appropriate for this image.<ref>[[John Pollini]], "The Augustus from Prima Porta and the Transformation of the Polykleitan Heroic Ideal", in Warren G. Moon (ed.), ''Polykleitos, the Doryphoros and Tradition.'' (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press) 1995, analyses the cultural significance of unmistakable Polykleitan features in the Prima Porta Augustus, presented in ''aemulatio'' as the successor to heroic Polykleitan portrayals of [[Alexander the Great]].</ref> Despite the Republican influence in the portrait head, the overall style is closer to Hellenistic idealization than to the realism of [[Roman portraiture]]. The reason for this style shift is the acquisition of Greek art. Following each conquest, the Romans brought back large amounts of Greek art. This flow of Greek artifacts changed Romans' aesthetic tastes, and these art pieces were regarded as a symbol of wealth and status for the Roman upper class.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Favro |first1=Diane |title=Rome, ancient |url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000073405 |website=Grove Art Online |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T073405 |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Despite the accuracy with which Augustus's features are depicted (with his somber look and characteristic fringe of hair on his forehead), the distant and tranquil expression of his face has been idealized, as have the conventional contrapposto, the anatomical proportions and the deeply draped ''[[paludamentum]]'' or "cloth of the commander". On the other hand, Augustus's barefootedness and the inclusion of [[Cupid]] riding a dolphin as structural support for the statue reveals his mythical connection to the goddess Venus (Cupid's mother) by way of his adopted father Julius Caesar. The clear Greek inspiration in style and symbol for official sculptural portraits, which under the Roman emperors became instruments of governmental propaganda, is a central part of the Augustan ideological campaign, a shift from the Roman Republican era iconography where old and wise features were seen as symbols of solemn character. Therefore, the Prima Porta statue marks a conscious reversal of iconography to the Greek classical and Hellenistic period, in which youth and strength were valued as signs of leadership, emulating heroes and culminating in Alexander the Great himself. Such a statue's political function was very obvious—to show Rome that the emperor Augustus was an exceptional figure, comparable to the heroes worthy of being raised to divine status on Olympus, and the best man to govern Rome.

==Polychromy==
{{see also|Art in ancient Greece#Polychromy: painting on statuary and architecture}}
[[File:Oxford. Ashmolean Museum. Gods in Colour. Augustus of Prima Porta 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Unpainted and painted replica of the statue (part of the ''[[Gods in Colour]]'' exhibition)]]
It is almost certain that the ''Augustus'' was originally [[polychrome|painted]], but so few traces remain today (having been lost in the ground and having faded since discovery) that historians have had to fall back on old watercolors and new scientific investigations for evidence. Vincenz Brinkmann of Munich researched the use of color on ancient sculpture in the 1980s using ultraviolet rays to find traces of color.<ref name="Bradley2009">{{Cite journal|last=Bradley|first=Mark|date=June 2009|journal=Art History|volume=32|issue=3|pages=427–457|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8365.2009.00666.x|issn=0141-6790|title=The Importance of Colour on Ancient Marble Sculpture}}</ref>

Today, the [[Vatican Museums]] have produced a copy of the statue so as to paint it in the theorized original colors, as confirmed when the statue was cleaned in 1999.<ref>{{cite news |title=Augustus of Prima Porta |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307132800/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050203090.html |archive-date=2023-03-07 |url-status=live |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050203090.html}}</ref> However, an art historian of the [[University of St Andrews]] in [[Scotland]], Fabio Barry, has criticized this reconstitution as unsubtle and exaggerated,<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050203090.html The Washington Post, "Augustus of Prima Porta", May 4, 2008]</ref> while other critics have argued that there are many notable differences between the original Prima Porta of Augustus and the painted recreation.<ref name="Bradley2009" /> However, due to the ongoing disagreement on the statue's pigmentation there is little information on or exploration of the usage of these colors.<ref name="Bradley2009" /><ref>{{Cite book|title = Brute barberton worms.|last = Shneider|first = Rolf|publisher = Marilda De Nucqi|year = 1986}}</ref> Another copy was painted with a different color scheme for the Tarraco Viva 2014 Festival.

Since at least the 18th century, the familiar sight of Roman sculptures that lack their original paint has encouraged the idea that [[Monochrome painting|monochromy]] is the natural condition for classical sculpture;<ref>Hägele, H. (2013). [https://books.google.com/books?id=_NYwBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA253&dq= ''Colour in Sculpture: A Survey from Ancient Mesopotamia to the Present'']. pp. 252–254.</ref> but surface treatment is now recognized as integral to the overall effect of the sculpture.<ref name="Bradley2009"/><ref>{{Cite book|chapter = Greek sculpture|editor-last = Palagia|editor-first = Olga|date = 2006|title= Function, Materials, and Techniques in the Archaic and Classical Periods| publisher=Cambridge University Press| place=Cambridge}}</ref>

The writings of second-century polymath Lucian provide a good example of how color functioned for a work of that time, "I Fear I stand in the way of her most important feature!... the rest of the body let [[Apelles]] represent.. not too white but diffused with blood. The quote continues to state that a statue of the time is unfinished without its "chora"—skin—or layer, applied to the statue to render it complete. The specific implications of each color chosen for the Prima Porta are unknown; assumedly red for the military and royalty.<ref name="Bradley2009a">{{cite journal |last1=Bradley |first1=Mark |title=The Importance of Colour on Ancient Marble Sculpture |journal=Art History |date=June 2009 |volume=32 |issue=3 |page=437 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8365.2009.00666.x |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/55469817/Bradley_Importance_of_colour_on_ancient_marble_sculpture.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Ridgeway1999">{{Cite book|title = Prayers in Stone|last = Ridgway| first= Brunilde S.| year=1999| publisher=University of California Press| place=Berkeley| series=Sather Classical Lectures| isbn=9780520215566| url=https://archive.org/details/BrunildeS.RidgwayPrayersInStoneGreekArchitecturalSculpture600400BC.1996| via=Internet Archive| url-access=registration| pages = 107–108}}</ref><ref name="Phelps1930">{{Cite book|title = Die Farbige Achitektur bei den Romern und in Mittelalter|last = Herman|first = Phelps|year = 1930|location = Berlin}}</ref>

==Iconography==
[[File:Augusto di pirma porta, inv. 2290, 02.JPG|thumb|upright|Detail of the breastplate]]

===Portrait===
The haircut is made up of divided, thick strands of hair, with a strand directly over the middle of Augustus's forehead framed by other strands over it. From the left two strands stray onto the forehead, and from the right three strands, a hairstyle first found on this statue. This hairstyle also marks the statue as being one of Augustus from comparison with his portrait on his coinage, which can also date it.<ref>Coins were one of the most effective ways of spreading propaganda, such as news of decisive battles and changes of ruler, because on such occasions new coins would be minted.</ref> This particular hairstyle is used as the first sign identifying this portrait type of Augustus as the Prima Porta type, the second and most popular of three official portrait types: other hairstyles of Augustus may be seen on the [[Ara Pacis]], for example. Another full-size statue of Augustus with these "Primaporta type" features is the [[Via Labicana Augustus|Augustus of Via Labicana]], portraying Augustus in the role of Pontifex Maximus, now in the [[Museo Nazionale Romano]].

The face is idealized, but not like those of [[Polykleitos]]' statues. Augustus's face is not smoothed and shows details to indicate his individual features.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stokstad |first1=Marilyn |title=Art History Vol.1 |publisher=Pearson Education |isbn=9780134479279 |page=175|date=2017-01-08 }}</ref> Art underwent important changes during Augustus's reign, with the extreme realism that dominated art of the Republican era giving way to Greek influence, as seen in the portraits of the emperors – idealizations that summarized all the virtues Roman society held should be possessed by the exceptional man worthy of governing the Empire. In earlier portraits, Augustus allowed himself to be portrayed in monarchical fashion, but amended these with later more diplomatic images that represented him as "[[primus inter pares]]". The head and neck were produced separately in [[Parian marble]] and inserted to the torso.

===Breastplate relief===
[[File:Augustus Prima Porta (detail).PNG|thumb|A close-up view of the [[breastplate]] on the statue, showing a Parthian man returning to [[Augustus]] the [[Aquila (Roman)|legionary standards]] lost by [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]] at [[Battle of Carrhae|Carrhae]]]]

The statue's iconography is frequently compared to that of the ''[[carmen saeculare]]'' by [[Horace]], and commemorates Augustus's establishment of the [[Pax Romana]]. The [[breastplate]] is carved in relief with numerous small figures depicting the return, thanks to the diplomacy of Augustus, of the Roman legionary eagles or ''[[Aquila (Roman)|aquila]]e'' lost to [[Parthian Empire|Parthia]] by [[Mark Antony]] in the 40s BC and by [[Marcus Licinius Crassus|Crassus]] in 53&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Squire2013">{{Cite journal|last=Squire|first=Michael|date=April 1, 2013|title=Embodied Ambiguities on the Prima Porta Augustus|journal=Art History|volume=36|issue=2|pages=242–279|doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12007}}</ref>

The figure in the centre, according to the most common interpretation, is the subjected Parthian king ([[Phraates IV]]) returning Crassus's standard to an armored Roman (possibly [[Tiberius]], or symbolically [[Mars Ultor]] or the incarnation of the ideal legionary).<ref name="Kleiner1992">{{Cite book|title=Roman Sculpture|last=Kleiner|first=Diana|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1992|isbn=0300046316|page=67}}</ref> Another theory sees in the male figure the ideal incarnation of the Roman legions.<ref name="lintellettualedissidente.it">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lintellettualedissidente.it/controcultura/arte/imago-roboris-augusto-di-primaporta/|title = Imago roboris: Augusto di Prima Porta|date = 5 November 2017}}</ref> This was a very popular subject in Augustan propaganda, as one of his greatest international successes, and had to be especially strongly emphasized, since Augustus had been deterred by Parthian military strength from the war which the Roman people had expected and had instead opted for diplomacy. Below the armed figure we can see a dog, or probably a wolf or, according to archaeologist Ascanio Modena Altieri, a [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]], nurse of [[Romulus and Remus]].<ref name="lintellettualedissidente.it"/> To the left and right sit mourning female figures; the figure on the one side with a sheathed sword personifies the peoples in the East (and possibly the Teutons) forced to pay tribute to Rome, and the one on the other side with an unsheathed sword personifies the subjected peoples (the Celts). From the top, clockwise, we see:
* [[Caelus]], the sky god, spreading the tent of the sky<ref>William E. Dunstan, (2010) ''Ancient Rome''. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p. 260. {{ISBN|0742568342}}</ref>
* [[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]] and [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]
* the personification of the subjected peoples
* the goddess Diana
* the earth goddess [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]]/[[Terra (mythology)|Tellus]]—similarly represented on the Ara Pacis
* Apollo, Augustus's patron
* the personification of the tributary peoples
* the sun god [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]
* a Sphinx on each shoulder, representing the defeat of [[Cleopatra]] by Augustus

The [[cuirass]] is not solely frontal; there is a backside to the armor as well. On the bottom right side of the back of the cuirass, there is a helmeted trophy with a wing above, a [[carnyx]] on the left hip, and [[greave]]s against a tree trunk. There was an iron peg that is thought to have connected the statue to a wall. This is likely due to the back being unfinished <ref name="Ingholt1969">{{Cite journal|last=Ingholt|first=Harold|date=Summer 1969|title=The Prima Porta Statue of Augustus|journal=Archaeology|volume=22|issue=3|pages=177–187|jstor=41667995}}</ref>

None of these interpretations are undisputed.{{Citation needed|reason=Verify|date=December 2018}} The gods, however, probably all symbolize the continuity and logical consistency of the events—just as the sun and moon forever rise, so Roman successes are certain and divinely sanctioned. Furthermore, these successes are connected with the wearer of this breastplate, Augustus. The only active person is the Parthian king, implying that everything else is divinely desired and ordained.

===Divine status===
During his lifetime, Augustus did not wish to be depicted as a god (unlike the later emperors who embraced divinity), but this statue has many thinly-veiled references to the emperor's "divine nature", his ''[[Genius (mythology)|genius]]''. Augustus is shown barefoot, which indicates that he is a [[hero#Antiquity|hero]] and perhaps even a divus,<ref name="Kleiner1992"/> and also adds a civilian aspect to an otherwise military portrait. Being barefoot was only previously allowed on images of the gods, but it may{{citation needed|reason=speculation?|date=April 2025}} also imply that the statue is a posthumous copy set up by Livia of a statue from the city of Rome in which Augustus was ''not'' barefoot.

The small [[Cupid]] (son of Venus) at his feet (riding on a dolphin, Venus's patron animal) is a reference to the claim that the [[gens Julia|Julian family]] were descended from the goddess [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], made by both Augustus and by his great uncle [[Julius Caesar]]—a way of claiming divine lineage without claiming the full divine status.<ref name=Janson>[[H. W. Janson|Janson, H.W.]] (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: [[Thames & Hudson]], p. 191. {{ISBN|0500237018}}</ref> The dolphin which Cupid rides has a political significance. &nbsp;It suggests that Augustus has won the battle of Actium and defeated one of his primary rivals, Mark Antony.<ref name="Kleiner1992 65">{{Cite book|title=Roman Sculpture|last=Kleiner|first=Diana|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1992|isbn=0300046316|page=65}}</ref>

==Type==
The Prima Porta-type of statues of Augustus, of which ''Augustus of Prima Porta'' is the most famous example, became the prevailing representational style for him. This type was introduced around 27&nbsp;BC to visually express the title ''[[Augustus (title)|Augustus]]'' and was copied full-length and in busts in various versions throughout the empire up until his death in AD&nbsp;14. The copies never showed Augustus looking older, however, but represented him as forever young, in line with the aims of his propaganda, i.e. to display the authority of the Roman emperors through conventional styles and stories of the culture.<ref name="autogenerated175"/> At its best, in [[R. R. R. Smith|Roland R. R. Smith's]] view, this "type achieves a sort [of] visual paradox that might be described as mature, ageless, and authoritative youthfulness".{{sfnp|Smith|1996|page=46}}

== Discovery ==
[[File:Ritrovamento della statue di cesare augusto a prima porta - Le scienze e le arti sotto il pontificato di Pio IX bw.jpg|350px|thumb|Lithograph depicting the discovery of the statue, published in 1865.]]
The statue of Augustus of Prima Porta was discovered within the [[Villa of Livia]] in 1863. Little is known about the discovery itself and its immediate aftermath, as the incomplete archaeological journals leave ambiguous evidence for modern historians.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Squire|first=Michael|date=April 2013|title=Embodied Ambiguities on the Prima Porta Augustus|journal=Art History|language=en|volume=36|issue=2|pages=246|doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12007}}</ref> The statue was first publicized by the German archeologist [[Wilhelm Henzen]] in 1863 the {{lang|it|Bulletino dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archaeologica}}.<ref name="Ingholt1969"/>{{Refn|1={{cite book| last=de Grummond| first=Nancy.| year=1996| chapter=Augustus of Prima Porta| editor-last1=de Grummond| editor-first1=Nancy| publisher=Routledge| title=An Encyclopaedia of the History of Classical Archaeology| place=Abingdon| isbn=1-884964 80 X| pages=108–109}}}} The exact location of the statue within the villa is unknown. Suggested sites are the underground complex,<ref name="Reeder1997">{{Cite journal|last=Reeder|first=Jane Clark|date=1997|title=The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, the Underground Complex, and the Omen of the Gallina Alba|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=118|issue=1|page=96|doi=10.1353/ajp.1997.0015|s2cid=162188763|issn=1086-3168}}</ref> a placement near a staircase, the villa's atrium,<ref name="Klynne2009">{{Cite journal|last1=Klynne|first1=Allan|last2=Liljenstolpe|first2=Peter|date=2000|title=Where to Put Augustus?: A Note on the Placement of the Prima Porta Statue|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=121|pages=121–128|doi=10.1353/ajp.2000.0011|s2cid=163025721|issn=1086-3168}}</ref> or in a laurel grove on the southeast corner of Prima Porta hill. Scholars have stated that the last one is relatively unconvincing compared with the first three.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gender, Identity and the Body in Greek and Roman Sculpture|last1=Barrow|first1=Rosemary|last2=Silk|first2=Michael|date=2018-09-21|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139600439|pages=97|doi = 10.1017/9781139600439|s2cid=194947178}}</ref>

The theory that Augustus's statue was found in the underground complex of the villa is based on a hypothesis that Augustus holds a laurel branch instead of a spear in his left hand.<ref name="Reeder1997 90">{{Cite journal|last=Reeder|first=Jane Clark|date=1997|title=The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, the Underground Complex, and the Omen of the Gallina Alba|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=118|page=90|doi=10.1353/ajp.1997.0015|s2cid=162188763|issn=1086-3168}}</ref> Scholars have noted that if this hypothesis is correct, then Villa of Livia must have been decorated with laurel groves and that the reason of the decoration is the omen of the ''gallina alba'' (Latin: white hen).

Recent excavations have discovered the remnants of pots used to plant laurel on the edge of the Prima Porta hill in front of the underground complex, which Reeder believes suggests the possibility of the existence of laurel groves in the villa and makes it likely that the statue was located in the underground complex. She rationalized this by stating that per Suetonius, Augustus had a fear of lightning and often hid in 'an underground vaulted room',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Life of Augustus|last=Suetonius|page=section 90}}</ref> which she theorizes was likely the underground complex,<ref name="Reeder1997 92">{{Cite journal|last=Reeder|first=Jane Clark|date=1997|title=The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, the Underground Complex, and the Omen of the Gallina Alba|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=118|issue=1|page=92|doi=10.1353/ajp.1997.0015|s2cid=162188763|issn=1086-3168}}</ref> particularly as during the time of Augustus laurels were thought to provide protection from lightning.<ref name="Pliny the Elder">{{cite book |author1=Pliny the Elder |title=The Natural History, Book XV. The Natural History of the Fruit Trees. |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:phi,0978,001:15#note488 |chapter=40. Historical anecdotes connected with the laurel}}</ref>

Scholars who disagree with the theory have argued that although the pot remnants could have been used to plant laurel, such pots were also used for other plants such as lemons. They also state that according to an 1891 drawing made 25 years after the first excavation, Prima Porta Augustus was found at the bottom of the staircase leading to the underground complex, not the complex itself. Alan Klynne and Peter Liljenstolpe have further noted that the statue could have been brought to the basement from another location such as the atrium, where it would have stood on a rectangular structure that stands right on the axis against the south wall of the atrium.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Klynne|first1=Allan|last2=Liljenstolpe|first2=Peter|date=2000|title=Where to Put Augustus?: A Note on the Placement of the Prima Porta Statue|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=121|issue=1|pages=125|doi=10.1353/ajp.2000.0011|s2cid=163025721|issn=1086-3168}}</ref> As visitors would enter the atrium from the ''fauces'' at the northeastern corner, the statue would be the first thing that they would see and that they would view it from the left, which fits Kähler's idea that it should be seen from this position.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Klynne|first1=Allan|last2=Liljenstolpe|first2=Peter|date=2000|title=Where to Put Augustus?: A Note on the Placement of the Prima Porta Statue|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=121|issue=1|pages=126–127|doi=10.1353/ajp.2000.0011|s2cid=163025721|issn=1086-3168}}</ref><ref>Kähler 1959, 3-14, table 3.</ref> When the visitor walked across the atrium their eyes would meet with Augustus's right hand, thus "receiving" the address that Augustus made.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Klynne|first1=Allan|last2=Liljenstolpe|first2=Peter|date=2000|title=Where to Put Augustus?: A Note on the Placement of the Prima Porta Statue|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=121|issue=1|pages=127|doi=10.1353/ajp.2000.0011|s2cid=163025721|issn=1086-3168}}</ref>

The story of the ''gallina alba'' (White hen} narrates that after Livia married Octavian an eagle dropped a hen holding laurel seeds in its beak onto Livia's lap,<ref name="Laurence2012">{{cite book |last1=Laurence |first1=Ray |title=Roman Archaeology for Historians |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-50592-5 |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dlq6pZaTS_UC&pg=PA52}}</ref> which the religious authorities of Rome took as a sign of blessing and divinity. The plant was ordered to be planted with great religious care at what is now known as the villa surbana, where it grew into a grove. According to Jane Clark Reeder, when Julio-Claudians had military success they would take a laurel branch from the villa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reeder|first=Jane Clark|date=1997|title=The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, the Underground Complex, and the Omen of the Gallina Alba|journal=American Journal of Philology|volume=118|issue=1|pages=91|doi=10.1353/ajp.1997.0015|s2cid=162188763|issn=1086-3168}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius]]
* [[Colossus of Constantine]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite journal|first=Roland R. R. |last=Smith |date=1996 |title=Typology and diversity in the portraits of Augustus |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |volume=9 |pages=30–47 |doi=10.1017/S1047759400016482 |s2cid=164736415 }}

==Further reading==
'''In German'''
* Heinz Kähler: ''Die Augustusstatue von Primaporta''. Köln 1959.
* Erika Simon: ''Der Augustus von Prima Porta''. Bremen, Dorn 1959. (Opus nobile 13)
* Hans Jucker: ''Dokumentationen zur Augustusstatue von Primaporta'', in: Hefte des Archäologischen Seminars Bern 3 (1977) S. 16–37.
* Paul Zanker: ''Augustus und die Macht der Bilder''. München, C. H. Beck 1987, {{ISBN|3-406-32067-8}}
* ''Kaiser Augustus und die verlorene Republik'', Ausstellung Berlin 1988. Mainz, Zabern 1988. S. 386 f. Nr. 215.
* Erika Simon: ''Altes und Neues zur Statue des Augustus von Primaporta'', in: G. Binder (Hrsg.), ''Saeculum Augustum'', Bd. 3, Darmstadt, WBG 1991, S. 204–233.
* Dietrich Boschung: ''Die Bildnisse des Augustus'', Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1993 (Das römische Herrscherbild, Abt. 1, Bd. 2) {{ISBN|3-7861-1695-4}}
* Thomas Schäfer: ''Der Augustus von Primaporta im Wechsel der Medien'', in: H. J. Wendel u.a. (Hrsg.), Wechsel des Mediums. Zur Interdependenz von Form und Inhalt, Rostock 2001, S. 37–58.
* Vinzenz Brinkmann und Raimund Wünsche (eds.): ''Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Eine Ausstellung der Staatlichen Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek München in Zusammenarbeit mit der Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Kopenhagen und den Vatikanischen Museen, Rom'', Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München 2004 {{ISBN|3-933200-08-3}}.

'''In Italian'''
* Ascanio Modena Altieri: ''Imago roboris: Augusto di Prima Porta''. Rome, L'Intellettuale Dissidente, 2017.

==External links==
* [http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:196044/ 3D model of Primaporta-type head of Augustus via photogrammetric survey of a plaster cast of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek's marble]
* [http://www.mbradtke.de/augustus/augustus01.htm Page on the statue, in German, with coloured reconstruction and close-up of breastplate]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190608165627/http://viamus.uni-goettingen.de/mmdb/Institut/smallView?Abguss.Inventarnummer:record=A+484 Description on VIAMUS]
* [http://viamus.uni-goettingen.de/fr/mmdb_/d/c/singleItemView?pos=0&Inventarnummer=A%20484 Catalogue record on VIAMUS]
* [http://viamus.uni-goettingen.de/pages/quickView?Object.Inventarnummer:record:ustring=A%20484&resolution=high&mimetype=quicktime&height=515&width=333 360 degree computer reconstruction]
* {{commons-inline}}

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