ABSTRACT
The interpretation was subsequently disproved by the discovery of a new fragment of the Acta Fratrum Arvalium from AD 38, which records for 26 July the sacrifice of a cow at the altar of Providentia, thus confirming the connection of the cult with the adoption of Tiberius on that day by Augustus in AD 4. A nearer comparison to the complex at Emerita occurs at Arles, where in a brief period between 25 and 10 BC a project was constructed, unitary in concept, with a forum centred on an altar along with a decorative and iconographic programme clearly related to Augustus, a plan conceivably followed at Augusta Emerita. The likely explanation of the delay, therefore, is that the attention and finances of the city were focused on the provincial forum and temple, towards the costs of which the élite of Augusta Emerita will undoubtedly have had to pay their share.
