A Poem for the Ara Pacis Augustae

Posted on: 13 October 2023 by Diana Dellantonio in 2023 posts

I have written a poem entitled “In front of the Ara Pacis” from the fictional perspective of a Roman citizen. It has been inspired by the topic of my Master's thesis: The Ara Pacis Augustae, a Roman honorary monument.

The Ara Pacis Augustae was the topic of my master’s thesis. I first encountered this beautiful monument during a class in Classical Archaeology on Roman honorary monuments at my alma mater, the University of Innsbruck.

I was so fascinated by this monument, most of all by the beautiful details of its friezes, that not only did I chose it as the topic of my master’s thesis, but I decided to see it with my own eyes when I went to Rome two years ago for a conference in which I delivered a paper.

When I gazed at this temple, I instantly asked myself what a former citizen of the Urbs could think when seeing this beautiful work of art in the Campus Martius in the years after its erection and dedication. The possible answer quickly arrived, and verses started to sprout in my head like many little flowers.

The final result was this poem entitled “In front of the Ara Pacis” written from the fictional perspective of a Roman citizen. This is particularly evident in the verses that describe the yearly animal sacrifices that the senate decreed in honour of the temple and of its goddess, the Pax Augusta. I wrote the poem in Italian and then I decided to translate it in English adding some new words.