Ara Pacis Augustae
About
Marble altar within a sculpted precinct wall commemorating the Pax Romana established by Augustus, commissioned by the Senate in 13 BCE and consecrated 30 January 9 BCE, sited on the west side of the Via Flaminia in the Campus Martius. Standing and in cult use in 117 CE. Coordinates mark the approximate ancient findspot beneath the later Palazzo Fiano-Almagia (excavated 1937-38); the monument was moved and reassembled at its current Richard Meier museum site near Augustus's Mausoleum only in the 20th century.
What happened here
It was put up to be argued with. Public monuments carry an inscription at eye height naming who paid, what for, and by whose authority, because being read is the whole return on the investment. People meet at them, give directions by them, and shelter under them. Children climb them. The bronze fittings are stolen often enough that they are re-attached with lead. On anniversaries the base is garlanded and the local council makes a short speech nobody listens to. Monuments also date the town for you: a run of them along one street shows which families were rising in which decade, and which ones stopped. When a family falls out of favour, the name is chiselled out and the stone is quietly reused.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →