Temple of Augustus and Rome is an

augusteum An Augusteum (plural ''Augustea'') was originally a site of imperial cult in ancient Roman religion, named after the imperial title of Augustus. It was known as a Sebasteion in the Greek East of the Roman Empire. Examples have been excavated in ...

located in

Altındağ Altındağ is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, part of the city of Ankara. According to the 2000 census, the population of the district is 407,101, of which 400,023 live in the urban center of A ...

district of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. It is thought to have been built around 25–20 AD. Besides being one of the most important Roman period ruins in the city, it is also known for ''Monumentum Ancyranum''. This is an inscription about the works of

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

, who was considered the first Roman emperor, throughout his life. It is the most complete copy of ''

Res Gestae Divi Augusti ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' (Eng. ''The Deeds of the Divine Augustus'') is a monumental inscription composed by the first Roman emperor, Augustus, giving a first-person record of his life and accomplishments. The ''Res Gestae'' is especially sig ...

'' that has survived to the present day, as the original in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

had disappeared.

History

An earlier, 2nd century BCE Phrygian temple on the site was destroyed. The Augusteum was built between 25–20 BC after the conquest of central

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

by the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

and the formation of the

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...

province, with

Ancyra Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the list of national capitals, capital of Turkey. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center ...

as its administrative capital. It was reintroduced to the western world by

Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522 in Comines – 29 October 1592 in Saint-Germain-sous-Cailly; la, Augerius Gislenius Busbequius), sometimes Augier Ghislain de Busbecq, was a 16th-century Flemish writer, herbalist and diplomat in the employ ...

, ambassador of Ferdinand of Austria, to the Sultan

Suleyman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ� ...

(1555–1562) at Amasia in Asia Minor. Busbecq first read the inscription and identified its origin from his reading of

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

; he published a copy of parts of it in his ''

Turkish Letters Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522 in Comines – 29 October 1592 in Saint-Germain-sous-Cailly; la, Augerius Gislenius Busbequius), sometimes Augier Ghislain de Busbecq, was a 16th-century Flemish writer, herbalist and diplomat in the employ ...

''. Only the side walls and the ornamented door frame remain; the positions of six columns can still be recognized.Ahmet Gökdemir, Can Demirel, Yavuz Yeğin, Zeynel Şimşek, "Ankara Temple (Monumentum Ancyranum/Temple of Augustus and Rome) restoration", ''Case Studies in Construction Materials'' 2:55-65 (June 2015)
full text
/ref>

Monumentum Ancyranum

After the death of Augustus in AD 14, a copy of the text of the ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' was inscribed on both walls inside the

pronaos A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, with a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

translation on an exterior wall of the

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek temple, Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extende ...

. The inscriptions are the primary surviving source of the text, since the original inscription on bronze pillars in front of the

Mausoleum of Augustus The Mausoleum of Augustus ( it, Mausoleo di Augusto, italic=no) is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via ...

has long been lost, and two other surviving inscriptions of the text are incomplete. Squeezes of the Monumentum Ancyrum were obtained by the Cornell Expedition in 1907–1908, and have been the basis for epigraphic study including by the epigrapher

Mariana McCaulley Mariana McCaulley (1890–December 26, 1946) was an epigrapher and Latin teacher. Biography McCaulley published a 1912 M.A. thesis at Cornell University on a squeeze of the Monumentum Ancyranum (a copy of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti), which ob ...

Copies

A life-size reproduction of the pronaos, including the text of the ''Deeds'', was erected in the gardens of the

Baths of Diocletian , alternate_name = it, Terme di Diocleziano , image = Baths of Diocletian-Antmoose1.jpg , caption = Baths of Diocletian, with the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri built in the remains of the baths. , map_dot_ ...

in Rome for the Archaeological Exhibition of the 1911 Rome World's Fair. After the fair, it was put in storage until it was displayed at the Mostra Augustea della Romanità in 1937. After WWII, it was moved to Room IX of the new Museo della Civiltà Romana."Room IX: Augustus", ''Museo della Civiltà Romana''
/ref>

References

External links

Introduction to the Monumentum Ancyranum
from

LacusCurtius LacusCurtius is a website specializing in ancient Rome, currently hosted on a server at the University of Chicago. It went online on August 26, 1997; in July 2021 it had "3707 webpages, 765 photos, 772 drawings & engravings, 120 plans, 139 maps." T ...

Manar al-Athar digital archive page for the subject
20s BC establishments in the Roman Empire Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia Buildings and structures in Ankara Latin inscriptions Temples of Augustus

History

Monumentum Ancyranum

Copies

See also

References

Further reading

External links