Interior Walls
Inside of Side Opposite Augustus
original north side
Rigorous design with exquisite carving: Like the exterior walls, the interior walls are structured within the powerful geometry of corner pilasters, base, cornice, and intermediate, horizontal stringcourse. In the interior, however, the pilaster are flat, the base plain, and the stringcourse a gentle lotus and palmette design.
The lower portion of the interior walls are thought to be an imitation in stone of wooden walls sometimes set up to delimit altar precincts (see drawing on page 3). Some scholars have suggested that there was just such a wooden precinct wall initially set up for the Ara Pacis.
The upper portion also follows a repeating pattern, but with the parts subtly varied, and with rich, symbolic imagery. Most noticeable are the elaborate, hanging festoons of wild and cultivated vegetation of all season: ivy, poppies, oak, apples, corn, figs, pomegranates, berries, and more. The design of these festoons has long been recognized as the richest and their carving the finest of the entire monument.
The festoons hang from the horns of ox skulls (bucrania), attached by ribbons, the ends of which flutter outward as if in a breeze. Above each of the festoons is a libation bowl (paterae), from which sacrificial liberations were poured.
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Inside of original north side wall, along left side of sacrificial altar - left and middle areas. 14mm lens, photo Oct. 2008
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Wall along left side of sacrificial altar, middle and right areas. 14mm lens, photo Oct. 2008
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Largest area of surviving remnants of the lower inner wall, elaborately reconstructed. Detail of photos at left. photo July 2008
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Looking along back of sacrificial altar to right end of the original north side wall. As shown on coins, the doorway was occasionally closed by wooden doors. 14mm lens, photo July 2008
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Same section of inside wall as in photo at left. photo July 2008
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Surviving fragment embedded in reconstructed section of wall. Detail of photos at left. photo July-Oct. 2008
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"Fig. 24 Inner corner of the front- and left sidewall." This drawing shows the first hypothetical reconstruction of an interior corner, preceding the first excavation of 1903. Scanned from Eugen Petersen, "Ara Pacis Augustae, von Eugen Petersen, mit Zeichnungen von George Niemann", Sonderschriften des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, 1902; vol. 1, fig.24. Reproduced with appreciation. |
"Plate 6 - "Preserved parts of the north side: interior", print by "Ennio Paoloni, Roma". This planar elevation image shows the inside of the original north side wall as reconstructed in 1938, identifying original portions of original monument. Scanned from Giuseppe Moretti, L'Ara Pacis Augustae; Rome, 2005 (1st ed. 1948), vol.2, pl.18. Courtesy of the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome. Reproduced with appreciation.
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"Plate 6 - Longitudinal section of the reconstructed monument", print by "Ennio Paoloni, Roma". This planar elevation image shows a vertical cross-section of the sacrificial altar and its relation to the inside of the original north side wall, as reconstrced in 1938. Scanned from Giuseppe Moretti, L'Ara Pacis Augustae; Rome, 2005 (1st ed. 1948), vol.2, pl.16. Courtesy of the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome. Reproduced with appreciation.
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