Il codice botanico di Augusto. The Augustus botanical code

The study analyses the botanical composition of the external fence of Ara Pacis (I century BC) (Rome, Italy), built to celebrate the Augustus’s return from expedition in Gaul and Spain, whishing for a new peaceful age (Fig. 1). The monument was planned to be a marble enclosure with an almost square base (11,65 x 10,62 m) carved on both sides, with precise repartitioning of the space having a basal part with “floral friezes” very similar in structure, but not completely identical, and an overlying part which depicts mythical or evocative events (Fig. 2). The richness of the chosen plant’s elements, of such an historically important monument, and their accurate disposition, highlights how they do not play just an ornamental role, but they appear to be the means of a clear symbolic-allegoric intention linked to the political manifesto of the becoming empire. In this volume the constitutive elements of this botanical alphabet and the rules of organization of the iconographic language are illustrated for the first time, and it is explained the reading of the Augustus’ message of a new prosperity, in a rebirth process, possible thanks to peace, through a never ending transformation which is projected onto eternity.