The Temple of Augustus and Rome is an augusteum located in the

Altındağ Altındağ is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 123 km2, and its population is 413,994 (2022). It covers the northeastern part of the city of Ankara. Its elevation is . Demographics ...

district of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

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

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, who was considered the first Roman emperor. 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, even as the original in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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 (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

by the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and the formation of the Galatia province, with Ancyra as its administrative capital. It was reintroduced to the western world by Antun Vrančić, ambassador of Ferdinand of Austria, to the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (1555–1562) at Amasia in Asia Minor. Vrančić first read the inscription and identified its origin from his reading of

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

. 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
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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 in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, with a Greek translation on an exterior wall of the cella. The inscriptions are the primary surviving source of the text, since the original inscription on bronze pillars in front of the Mausoleum of Augustus in

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.

Copies

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

External links

Introduction to the Monumentum Ancyranum
from LacusCurtius
Manar al-Athar digital archive page for the subject
{{Ankara 20s BC establishments in the Roman Empire Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia Buildings and structures in Ankara Latin inscriptions Temples of Augustus Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Turkey 1st-century BC religious buildings and structures

History

Monumentum Ancyranum

Copies

See also

References

Further reading

External links