ABSTRACT
The age of Augustus represents the coming of age of Roman architecture. Until then Roman building had been a somewhat rough and ready mix of Foman engineering techniques and Hellenistic veneer. During the 40 years of his reign Augustus practically rebuilt the entire city of Rome, and his ambitious building programme almost certainly resulted in a major influx of foreign craftsmen and architects. Outside influences, particularly eastern and Greek, are a constant factor in Augustan art and architecture. It seems that after an initial experimental period at the beginning of his principate he had determined that Classical and Hellenistic Greek art was to be his model. The Prima Porta statue of Augustus in full armour is closely modelled upon the fifth-century Doryphorus of Polycleitus. The walls of the Farnesina house are decorated with copies of mid-fifth-century Classical Greek paintings, with delicate outline figures on a white ground. A series of terracotta plaques found on the Palatine in the vicinity of the Temple of Apollo contain figures in an eclectic style which combines features of late Archaic and Classical Greek art. The Ara Pacis (13-9 BC) draws its inspiration from both the Classical and the Hellenistic period. A more obvious example of Augustan classicism is the Forum he built in Rome and dedicated in his own name. The deeply carved Corinthian capitals are almost certainly the work of Greek craftsmen, as, one might imagine, were the Caryatid figures which adorned the surrounding colonnades (fig. 35). Unfortunately, one of them bears the signature, Caius Vibius Maximus, an un-Greek name to say the least. However, in the ferment of building which took place under Augustus it is perhaps not surprising to find that Roman sculptors were being trained in Greek workshops. Indeed the Caryatid in question has a certain Italian peasant quality about her.
