Epigraphical space and imperial power in Athens. Altars and statue bases for Augustus and the imperial family

Abstract

In this paper, the ways in which public spaces of Athens are used in the display of imperial
power will be analyzed. The aim is to provide a complete and updated outline of the documentation,
which lacks, until now, organicity, in order to reconstruct a general trend of
the phenomenon and the political meanings of Augustus’ program in Athens. The focus
on altars and statue bases, often confused in the Athenian archaeological record, is for sure
the best start to understand in which sense we can speak of ‘imperial cult’ in Athens. Altars
and statue bases communicate, for their nature, with the observer, that moves every day in
an ‘allusive space’. The inscriptions placed on the supports give an additional supply
within this communicative process. The favorite place where erecting statue bases was,
not by chance, the Acropolis (but we should also add the equestrian statue base of Lucius
Caesar above the entrance of the West Gate of the Roman Agora and the dedication to
Tiberius of the pillar in front of the Stoa of Attalus), whereas imperial altars seem to be
distributed in a less selective way, since they were mostly found in the area of the Odeon,
of the Eleusinion, and around the Roman Agora. Even though they were not, in most of
the cases, in situ, defining particular areas where the ‘imperial presence’ was predominant
is still possible. This study wants to give a useful contribution to the comprehension of the
Athenian urban landscape at the time of Augustus, that surely carried out a well-planned
dynastic policy, in order to transform the public space in a meaningful stage where was
the new authority of Rome exhibited and promoted.