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7/28/2019 Typology and Ideology in the Mausoleum of Augustus. Tumulus and Tholos
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Typology and Ideology in the Mausoleum of Augustus: Tumulus and TholosAuthor(s): Jane Clark ReederSource: Classical Antiquity, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Oct., 1992), pp. 265-307Published by: University of California Press
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7/28/2019 Typology and Ideology in the Mausoleum of Augustus. Tumulus and Tholos
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JANE CLARK REEDER
Typology and Ideology in theMausoleum
of Augustus: Tumulus and Tholos
UST AS THERE have been various attemptsat reconstruction of the Mauso
leum of Augustus by architects and archaeologists from theRenaissance to the
present, so there have been attempts to enter definitively theAugustan monumental round tomb into various typologies on thepart of arthistorians. The two
most traditional typologies have been "mausoleum" and "tumulus"; indeed both
terms were applied to the tomb in antiquity. In the modern typologies the
Etruscan tumulushas usually been seen as the traditionalprototype.'There are a considerable number of well-preserved tumulus tombs from the
archaic period, which are found in the necropolises of Caere and in those of
other cities of southern Etruria as well as those of the coastal area of northern
Etruria.2 The general resemblance of the simplest form of the Roman roundtomb to the Etruscan tradition is obvious: the tumulus, a conical mound of
earth, is raised on a round base or socle; not only the conical tumulus itself but
the interior part of the base is usually formed of a homogeneous mass of earth
and held by a circular wall of dressed stone. These basic features, tumulus
mound and base wall, are testified to in theMausoleum of Augustus by Strabo,
1. Two of the most important earlier sources for the traditional interpretation of the Roman
round tombwere B. Goetze, Das Rundgrab von Falerii (Stuttgart, 1939);andR. Fellman, Das Grabdes Lucius Munatius Plancus inGaeta (Basel, 1957), esp. 90-93; see also L. Crema, L'architettura
romana (Turin, 1959) 130, 242-43; H. Windfeld-Hansen, "Les couloirs annulaires dans l'architecture
funeraire antique,"Acta AArt Hist 2 (1965) 38, 53.M. Eisner ("ZurTypologie derMausoleen des
Augustus und des Hadrian," RM 86 [1979] 319-98) has given a recent assessment of the typology as
tumulus.
2. A. Boethius, Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture (Middlesex, 1978) 94-99, figs. 36, 61.
? 1992 BY THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
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266 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
a witness who belonged to the generation that saw the construction of the
tomb.3 In some tombs of this type, such as the tumulus of the Curiatii on the
Via Appia, there is a small cavity in the center of the base for the funeraryurns.4 The sepulchral cella at the center entered by a corridor of access and the
pillar at the center that supported the crowning block of the tholos in the
Etruscan examples and the statue of Augustus on his Mausoleum are found in
some Etruscan tombs.5
However, the developed Roman tumulus differs from the Etruscan not only
in the regularityof the architectural coordination of the internal arrangement,
especially in the structure of the cella at the center, but also in the systematiza
tion of the interior buttresswalls for thepurpose
ofdividing
themass andweightof the earth.6 This latter feature, found among neither the Etruscan tumuli nor
Hellenistic extant examples and rarely in the Greek tumuli of the classical pe
riod, is a technique of Roman engineering used for the construction of founda
tions, terraces, andmilitary ramparts,as testified tobyVitruvius (DeArch. 6.8).The rudiments of this interior buttressing are said to be found for the first time in
the northernmost of the two Roman tumuli called the Tombs of the Horatii near
the fifth mile of theVia Appia.7 This is apparently the only Roman tumulus
tomb that remains securely dated to the end of the Republican period (ca. 80-44
B.C.).8
While it still seems rash to dismiss the Etruscan precedent entirely, never
theless the traditional connecting link between the Etruscan tumuli and the
Mausoleum of Augustus, the so-called Late Republican Roman monumental
round tomb, has all but disappeared. That is, the well-known Roman tombs
built for private citizens of the patrician class such as the Torrione di Micara at
Tusculum traditionally identified with L. Licinius Lucullus, the tomb of Cae
cilia Metella on the Via Appia, and the tomb on the Via Appia known as the
Casale Rotondo, associated with M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, as well as the
tomb of Munatius Plancus at Gaeta, have now been dated after the Mausoleum
of Augustus, built in 28 B.C.9However, amore recent study by M. Eisner, "On
theTypology of the FuneraryMonuments inSuburbanRome," which showed
the tumulus to be themost frequent type there, resisted the previous conclu
sion expressed by such scholars as R. Holloway and J.-C. Richard, that the
Mausoleum of Augustus was the earliest known Roman round tomb and there
fore that the imperial tomb rather than a private one stood at the beginning of
3. Strabo (5.3.9) testified to the towering foundation wall supporting the tumulus mound
covered with evergreens.4. Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 54 n. 4.
5. Boethius (supra, n. 2) 96-97 figs. 95, 96;Crema (supra, n. 1) 244.
6. Crema (supra, n. 1) 130, 242-43; Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 55.
7. Crema (supra, n. 1) 131 fig. 260; Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 55.
8. Boethius (supra, n. 2) 214; Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 55; Crema (supra, n. 1) 131, 243
fig. 260.
9. R. Ross Holloway, "The Tomb of Augustus and the Princes of Troy," AJA 70 (1966) 171-73.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 267
the Roman tumulus tradition.1 Eisner still held out for the earlier dating of the
Torrione di Micara (ca. 50 B.c.) and the Casale Rotondo (ca. 40-30 B.c.) as
well as the literary tradition (Lucan 2.222) that Sulla's tomb in the CampusMartius was a tumulus.11
Of course the Etruscans were not the only people to have built tumuli, and
it was perhaps inevitable with the broader investigation of non-Italian and
Hellenistic sources not only thatwould references be made to tumuli in other
parts of the Hellenistic world but, moreover, that the typological placement of
the Mausoleum of Augustus would follow and be instrumental in newer at
tempts at tomb typologies, especially those of the "tower" type of Roman
funerarymonuments. While Delbruck early used the expression "Podium fa
cade" for Italian architecture including in the term the tomb's high base and its
decoration, a typewhose purposeMatz then explained as the separation of the
dead from the living, and both scholarspointed to the origin of the type inAsia
Minor with the Mausoleum of Halicarnasus as chief exemplum, the major new
typological attempts to order Roman funerarymonuments have come in the
last two decades.12
H. Gabelmann was the first to give a comprehensive typology of the Roman
tower-type funerarymonument. Having begun by concentrating on theRhine
area and on H. Kahler's "Pfeilergrabmaler" type, he went on to divide the
Roman tombs in Italy and the northern provinces into two basic types: the
"Pfeilergrabmal" and the more basic "Mausoleumsgrundform."13 nother re
gional study, one on the funerarymonuments of Pompeii byV. Kockel, included
such regional types as the "multiple-storied" tomb for a broader discussion of the
typology of Roman tombs.14 Kockel was critical of Gabelmann's term "Mausole
umsgrundform" and also wished to emphasize the fourth-centuryGreek precedents for private tombs.15He preferred the phenomenological term "multilevel"
("mehrstockige") funerary monuments as the most "neutral" as well as one that
best did justice to themany possibilities.A recent dissertation by W. Kovacsovics extensively explored the Roman
tower-type funerary monument.16 He too found Gabelmann's "Mausoleum"
10. Eisner (supra, n. 1); Holloway (supra, n. 9); J.-C.Richard," 'Mausoleum':d'Halicarnasse
aRome, puis aAlexandrie," Latomus 29 (1970) 386.
11. Eisner (supra, n. 1) 321, 323-24.
12. R. Delbruck, Hellenistische Bauten in Latium II (1912) 130;F. Matz, "Hellenistische und
romischeGrabbauten," Antike 4 (1928) 277.13. H. Kahler, "Die rheinischen Pfeilergrabmaler," BJb 139 (1934) 145ff.; H. Gabelmann,
"Romische Grabmonumente mit Reiterkampfszenen im Rheingebiet," BJb 173 (1973) 132ff.;"Romische Grabbauten in Italien und den Nordprovinzen," Festschriftfir Frank Brommer (Mainz,
1977) 101-17.
14. One-fourth of Pompeii's one hundred known tombsbelong to thiscategory:V. Kockel, Die
Grabbauten vor dem herkulaner Tor in Pompeji (Mainz, 1983); see chap. 4, "Die Grabbauten:
Typen-Bauherren," 15-41.
15. Kockel (supra, n. 14) 27.
16. W. Kovacsovics, Romische Grabdenkmaler (Waldsassen, 1983).
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268 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
term inadequate since it commonlymeant no more thanmonumental tomb and
could includedisparate types.17Kovacsovics defined the tower type asmultilevel
with podium and temple-type upper level; the basic form and architectural ideawas founded in the Greek heroa. The Greek-temple type of the upper level
determined the typology. Kovacsovics preferred to use the Vitruvian orderingand terminology of the temple typeswhen these were available since theywere
ordered on the "stereometic basic form."A large part of the temple-type archi
tecture of the upper level of tower funerarymonuments had a round ground
plan. Vitruvius (De Arch. 4.8.1, 3) had called the round temple an aedes ro
tundae and included this under the term tholos. Kovacsovics found tholos the
most suitable term for the
building
with a round
ground plan
that had the
function of a temple.18 Other scholars in addition to Kovacsovics, such asW. von
Sydow, have gone on to insist that the architectural division of amonument, as
Gabelmann would have it, could not be a "secure criterion" for a typological
classification.19 Indeed some have been critical of even the attempt to order
funerarymonuments in this formalmanner, which they consider futile, since
every typology stumbles on the fact that the greater part of themonuments must
be characterized as "atypical particular forms."20
New efforts have also been made to define the tumulus, to further subdivide
its types, and to relate these types in Italy both to the Mausoleum of Augustus
and to Hellenistic prototypes. Both Kovacsovics and von Sydow derived the
Roman funerary tumulus not from Etruscan or Italian prototypes but from Helle
nistic tumuli of Greece and the East. They insist that the Mausoleum of Augus
tus, itself derived from Greek prototypes according toKovacsovics, revived the
idea of the tumulus in Italy and elsewhere.2l Von Sydow noted that tumuli with a
high vertical podium often stood also on a high, four-stepped square base.
"Stepped base and podium have the same function but typologically must be
divided."22 Tumuli with a high, vertically built "krepis" or base go back in Asia
Minor to the geometric period and are found even in Greece from the early sixth
century.23Although the development cannot be completely followed, examples
mainly from the Hellenistic period show its continuance.24 Kovacsovics elabo
rated on the type of funerary tumulus over a high podium that he called an
17. Ibid. 17, 11.
18. See ibid. 12-13 for further divisions and variants of the tholoi.
19. W. von Sydow, "Ein Rundmonument in Pietrabbondate," RM 84 (1977) 292 n. 89.Gabelmann's "Saulenfronttypus"and "Aediculatypus"were dependent on the division and shapingof the front of the temple-type upper level (Kovacsovics [supra,n. 16] 17).
20. J. Ganzert (DasKenotaphfuirGaius Caesar inLimyra, IstForsch. 35 [Tubingen, 1984] 173),for example, preferred a regionalor a sociological typology.Ganzert (173-74) includeda useful brief
summaryof recent typologies.21. Kovacsovics (supra, n. 16) 63; von Sydow (supra, n. 19) 294-96.
22. von Sydow (supra, n. 19) 294.
23. See ibid. n. 96 for these references.
24. Ibid. nn. 99-103, citing Hierapolis, Cortona, andCyrene.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 269
"architecturalized" tumulus.25He noted that the four-stepped base was replacedwith the high podiumwithout steps in the lateHellenistic period on assimilation
to the Greek heroin. VonSydow
had observed that thistype
of tumulus on a
podium was very rare outside of Italy, and no example could be securely dated
before theAugustan period.The Mausoleum of Augustus, then, is not a simple round tomb. It ismonu
mental not only in its dimensions, 89 m in diameter, but also in its height. It is the
tallestmonument of a group of comparablemausolea of ultimate Asiatic origins,second only in height to the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.26 In elevation it is at
the least a combination of the enormous cement cylinder topped by the earthen
planted mound and a second order of circular plan; it is thus a tower type.
Moreover, the center or interiorplan of thisgreat tumuluswas unique (Fig. 1).The interior construction of five concentric walls (nos. 1-5 in Fig. 1) placedaround a central pillar supported the superstructure.The pillar served to supportthe statue of the emperor at the summitmentioned by Strabo (5.5.8). These ring
walls divided the interior of the Mausoleum into five annular zones. The two
exterior zones formed the buttressing, a product of Roman engineering referred
to above.27The three interior zones, which constitute the hypogaeum itself, are
limited on the exterior by the third ringwall, which is uniquely pierced by a
vaulted dromos. The central pillar (a in Fig. 1) is surrounded by a sepulchralchamber (b), which is limited by the first circular wall. The two annular corridors
(c, d) surrounding this cella are placed respectively between the firstand second
and third walls. The dromos (e) ends in front of the second wall, where it enters
into the exterior annular corridor. This wall probably contained two doors that
gave access to the interior annular corridor.28
Now the fact is that typologies do not ordinarily take account of these
annular passages. Nor do Etruscan tombs or Roman engineering furnish prece
dent for these singular passages, even if the latter furnished the technical knowhow for the concrete vault construction. Only one scholar,H. Winfeld-Hansen,
has sufficiently emphasized this unique feature of the Mausoleum of Augustus.29
The function of these inner corridors was not a pragmatic one of buttressing as
was that of the two outer rings. Their purpose was of another order. They were
created for the funerary rites of circumambulation and lustration and have analo
gies and prototypes elsewhere to which Iwill return later. They served in other
words a ritual or symbolic function.
25. Kovacsovics (supra, n. 16) 63, 65. This architectural tumulus could apparently take the
form of a cone-shaped mound of earth or a stone conical roof with or without a filling of earth.
26. A list of ten monuments by height is in Ganzert (supra, n. 20) 174.
27. See Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 40 pl. la, for the details of thisbuttressing.28. This exact description of these ringwalls and annular corridors is found inWindfeld
Hansen (supra, n. 1) 40. Fellman (supra, n. 1: 88) earlier and Kovacsovics (supra, n. 16: 66) more
recently have alsomentioned inpassing thepurpose of these corridors.
29. Other large round tombs that followed Augustus's precedent had only one annular ring.See the list inWindfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 41-49.
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270 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
Although Strabo's (5.3.9) brief description of theMausoleum of Augustusmentioned two of its more obvious features, the towering base and tumulus
crowned by a statue of the emperor, the architectural reconstruction of theMausoleum's exterior elevation is still open to debate.30 Although only the first order,
the enormous drum, is extant today, it is certain that there was a second order
because, in addition to the drawings of Baldassare Peruzzi, antique fragmentsboth of the facing and of the entablature have been identified.31 However, it is not
agreed whether this second order consisted of a smaller cylinder with a Doric
entablature (Fig. 6) or a tholos with or without a colonnade.32Recently more
scholarshave been inclined toacceptG. Gatti's reconstructionof theMausoleum,
althoughthis isstillnot
universallyknown
(Fig. 2).33Gatti's
reconstruction,based
on Renaissance drawings and on his own observation during the modern excava
tions of the varying thicknesses of the ringwalls, forces the imperialmausoleum
into the tower type if one accepts his conclusion that a second architectural order
was placed on top of the first.34 Gatti assumed that the circular superstructure was
a round temple but left it open as towhether the temple was a closed rotunda (the
version adopted for his reconstruction inFig. 2) orwhether itwas surroundedby a
portico supported by the third annular wall. In any case it seems to me that the
consequences of this second architectural order for the typologies of themonu
ment have not been fully taken into account.35 That is, if the second order was a
round temple or tholos, it necessitates a broadening of the discussion of the
30. See Crema (supra, n. 1) 246 fig. 264 for a diagrammatic surveyof the reconstructions.
31. H. von Hesberg, "DasMausoleum des Augustus," Kaiser Augustus und die verlorene
Republik (Mainz, 1988) 245-48, cat. no. 113: theDoric entablature andphotograph, p. 251; fig. 148:
a reconstruction drawing of this entablature.
32. Von Hesberg (supra, n. 31: 246) speaks of an upper "cylinder"whose wall was probably of
equal height to the lower.A new reconstruction of theMausoleum by vonHesberg and S. Panciera
was announced in the bibliography (249); the reconstruction is reproduced inP. Zanker, The Powerof Images in theAge of Augustus (AnnArbor, 1988) 74 fig. 59 and inmy Fig. 6. Although von
Hesberg compares theMausoleum's effect to the "WorldWonders," theMausoleum of Halicarnas
sus and theGardens of Semiramis of Babylon, her emphasison themound (248) and the appearanceof the cylinder of the second order (Zanker fig. 59;my Fig. 6), which generally resembles those of
Roman round tombs such as Caecilia Metella's, appear to give this reconstruction a more conserva
tive cast.However, itwould seem wise towait for the details in the forthcoming full publication of
von Hesberg and S. Panciera. Compare P. Gros (Aurea templa:Recherches sur l'architecture
religieusede Rome c I'epoque d'Auguste [Rome, 1976] 205 pl. xlvii), who speaks of the cornice as
being from the entablature of "the exterior portico"; and F. Coarelli andY. Thebert ("Architecturefun6raire et pouvoir: Reflexions sur l'Hellenisme numide,"MEFRA 100.2 [1988] 783), who reproduced G. Gatti's reconstruction (see infra, n. 33, for Gatti) in fig. 21 and emphasized the "theme of
the colonnade" introduced in the Asian prototypes at the second level in the Nereid Monument of
Xanthos.
33. G. Gatti, "II mausoleo de Augusto: Studio di ricostruzione," Capitolium 10 (1934) 457-64:
"Nuove osservazioni sulMausoleo diAugusto," L'Urbe 3 (1938) 1-17.
34. According to Gatti (supra, n. 33: [1934] 463), the second annular wall from the interior is
broader than the others and thus supported a second circular order of less diameter than the first.
35. While Kovacsovics' (supra, n. 16) tower-type typology focused attention on the temple
type architecture, i.e., the tholos, of the upper level, theMausoleum of Augustus was discussed
primarily in his work as the precedent in Italy for the "architecturalized" tumulus.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 271
prototypes of the round tombbeyond the question of the tumulus, regardlessof
whether the origin of this latter feature is considered to be Etruscan, Greek,
Asiatic,orMacedonian
(seebelow for the
last).My investigationof the form of theMausoleum ofAugustus focuses then on
this second architecturalorder and the possible prototypes for the round templeor tholos. But first anothermajor pointmust be stressed. IfGatti's reconstruction
and the typologies establish that theMausoleum ofAugustus was not justa simpleround type,we may well have to take intoaccountquite different explanations for
its form and intentions. It isnecessary, furthermore, to insist that theMausoleum
as amonumental new creation featured a combination of features derived from
many different sources-already theAsiatic podium, Etruscan andHellenistic
mound, Greek tholos, Roman buttressing, crowning statue, and annular corri
dors for funerary rites have been mentioned. The new Augustan monument,
then, was an eclectic creation or a creation of several older elements with new
content, as was typicalofAugustan invention inart and architecture ingeneral.
Finally, it behooves us to ask not only how and from what sources Augustus and
his architects hit upon these various elements and their combination, but why
Augustus built such a monument in such a place so early in his lifetime. In the last
analysis, then, the argumentmust return to themeaning of this unprecedented
creation, andmeaning takesus out of thenarrower realm of typologies into thearena of history, political propaganda and cult, and ultimately symbolism.
The debate of two scholars in particular has helped to focus the meaning of
theMausoleum in the last three decades.36The tombwas not strictlya gentilicianone since neitherMarcellus, Agrippa, norDrusus theElder, who were all buried
there,were Julii. K. Kraft saw themeaning as a propagandistic counterpart to
the burial of Marc Antony at the side of Cleopatra in Alexandria. J.-C. Richard
proved that Octavian's and the Roman historians' use of the term mausoleum
referred to the precedent of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the tomb of theCarian dynast.37 However, the Mausoleum of Augustus was round and not rect
angular; nor could it probably have featured any aspect of design so blantantly
Egyptian as a pyramid so soon after the civil war.38 This circumstance did not
rule out more subtleEgyptian references, however.39
36. K. Kraft, "Der Sinn des Mausoleums desAugustus," Historia 16 (1967) 189-206; Richard
(supra, n. 10). The earlier bibliography on the Mausoleum is given in Richard, 370 n. 2, and in E.
Nash, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome (London, 1968) 38.
37. Richard (supra, n. 10: 370-75) showed that the word mausoleum, of Carian origin, was the
official and canonical usage forAugustus's tomb. Richard (364) suggested thatMunatius Plancuswas
responsible forOctavian's adoption of the termmausoleum.
38. It is interesting that the tropeum of La Turbie, modeled on the form of the Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus according to Richard (supra, n. 10: 384), not only has the statua loricata of the emperor
but also is reconstructed with the pyramid that the Mausoleum lacked, although the trophy's
"stepped pyramid" is of circular section rather than rectangular in the usual reconstruction (as in
Crema [supra, n. 1] 257 fig. 281). Perhaps the date of thismonument (7-6 B.c.) was long enoughafter Actium to include a visible ifmuted reminder of the civil war.
39. See infra.
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272 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
Both Kraft andRichard struggledwith the conflicting notions ofAugustus'smonarchical ambitions in the construction of his Mausoleum and the question
of the restitution of the respublica libera. The inherent contradiction of Augustan politics in this early period was classically formulated by Syme: "At the
very moment when he was engaged upon the ostensible restoration of the
Republic, he constructed in the Campus Martius a huge and dynastic monu
ment, his own Mausoleum."40 The same ambiguitywas reflected in the architec
ture. While the tumulus mound was so familiar a feature of the Italian topogra
phy to Romans that the architectural entity might be said to reflect the mos
maiorum and national tradition in a way analogous to the philological use of
the ancient term,41 the
juxtaposition
of this tumulus to the
towering
base and
statue of the emperor, the two monumental features of Hellenistic dynastic
implication that Strabomentioned, might reflect this inherent ambiguity. Rich
ard understood the crowning bronze statue of the Mausoleum as an epithema,
probably a statua loricata, a trophy, in other words, and thus not anterior to the
victory at Actium and Octavian's triumph in 29 B.C.42However, despite the
reassuringgesture of the tree-plantedmound, if such itwas, the total impactof
themonument and its surroundings lay in the direction of Hellenistic dynastic
power.
If the dynastic implications of the Mausoleum have often seemed inconsis
tent with the avowed wishes of Augustus to restore the Republic, the respublica
restituta is a complex historical issue, much debated, and one that must be left to
the historians. However, the total effect of Octavian's architectural program of
thisperiod ispertinent in this regard.After the victory overAntony atActium
Octavian could turn his full attention to his building program at Rome. There
were two chief centers for this new program: the Palatine and the Campus
Martius.
The Temple of Apollo and the House of Augustus were built on the Pala
tine, approximately contemporarywith thebuilding of theMausoleum ofAugustus in the Campus Martius.43 Although the building of the temple of Apollo as a
victory monument stood in the Republican tradition and the house was by no
means a "palace" like the Flavian one of the later imperial tradition, the whole
conglomerate of buildings took in an unprecedented area; the complex would
have eventually included the entire Palatine hill.44 There was one feature in
40. R.Syme,
The RomanRevolution,
2d ed.(Oxford, 1952), quoted
inKraft(supra,
n.36),194 n. 25.
41. Richard (supra, n. 10: 372-74) suggested that theword tumulus,when used forAugustus'stomb in opposition to the canonical mausoleum of dynastic connotation, had an antiquarian and
conservative or republican tone. It was the term used exclusively by Tacitus when referring to the
Julio-Claudian tomb and funerary rites.
42. Richard (supra, n. 10) 380.
43. G. Carettoni, RendPontAcc 39 (1966/67)55-75; NSc, ser. 8, 21 (1967)287-319; Archeologia
Laziale 1 (1978) 72-74, for the recent excavation of theHouse of Augustus.44. N. Degrassi, "Ladimora diAugusto sulPalatino," RendPontAcc 39 (1966/67) 77-116.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 273
particular that was without precedent. The temple originally built on private
property was in effect a private chapel thatwas connected to the House of
Augustus bya corridor. House and
templewere
one,and
Augustus mightliter
ally be said to have dwelt with the gods or at least with his divine protector,
Apollo.45Only Hellenistic royalcomplexes, suchas those atAlexandria or Perga
mon, furnished a precedent for the proximity of house and temple.46Moreover,
this house and temple complex containedAugustan emblems derived from the
Hellenistic ruler cult. The Room of the Masks in the House of Augustus held
programmaticpaintings that featured thebaluster of Diana justas the terra-cotta
decorations of the Temple of Apollo contained the conical column of Apollo
Agyieus.47 The ceiling of the corridor or ramp connecting house and templefeatured the thunderbolt.48The most immediateprecedents for the agyieus and
baluster were Ptolemaic; the thunderboltwas taken from Seleucid iconographybased on Alexander theGreat's precept.49
Although the Campus Martius scarcely had the ancient monuments and
references of the Palatine, itwas not entirely free of older associations.50 More
over, theopen space there presented an opportunity for development, and it too
became anAugustan architectural center. The Mausoleum ofAugustus stood at
the northern end of a monumental complex that later included the Solarium
Augusti and the Ara Pacis; the Pantheon, planned about the same time as the
Mausoleum, stood inAgrippa's complex in the southern part of the Campus. P.
Zanker is the only scholar to stress sufficiently the use of the architecture itself as
a direct source for the controversial question of the respublica restituta,usuallydiscussed along historical lines.51Although generals of the lateRepublic had
recourse to the Hellenistic monarchical iconography,Octavian overstepped all
boundaries of theRepublican nobility. In view of themonumentalized architec
turalpresence inRome in the years immediately followingActium, "the ques
45. Augustus's Apollonian connection has now often been treated.E. Simon's account, inDie
Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957) 30-44, is still one of the best.
46. P. Zanker ("Der Apollontempel auf dem Palatin," Citta e architettura nella Roma impe
riale, AnalRom Suppl. 10 [Odense, 1983], 21) suggested Pergamon as a general prototype and
remarked that the palace complex includednot only house and temple but libraryat Pergamon and
Mouseion at Alexandria.
47. J. C. Reeder, "Agyieus and Baluster: Aniconic Monuments inRoman Art" (diss.Brown
Univ., 1989) 50-68, 103-4, 249-61.
48. G. Carettoni, "La decorazione pittorica della casa di Augusto sul Palatino," RM 90 (1983)
fig. 6, color pl. 6.
49. Reeder (supra,n. 47) 85-89, 341-53; see n. 54 infraon theAugustan "imitatioAlexandri."
Apelles had paintedAlexander theGreat with the thunderbolt (Plut.Alex. 4.3); thepaintingwas set
up in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Pliny, NH 35.92). The thunderbolt appears as a chief
element of the figural decoration on the helmet of the cuirassed figure on the so-called Ptolemycameo inVienna, which has recently been identified as a portrait of Alexander-Augustus commis
sioned soon after Octavian's conquest of Egypt (W.-R. Megow, "Kameen spathellenistischer und
fruhaugusteischerZeit," JdI 100 [1985]473-82, figs. 9-10).50. For the Tarentum and the Secular Games, see infra.
51. Zanker (supra, n. 46).
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274 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
tion of the division of power in the new city was decided even before it could be
effectively put."52
In linewith the understanding of the influence of Hellenistic dynastic politicsand iconography upon the Late Republic, it is natural that some have looked to
the tomb of Alexander the Great as the major precedent or prototype for the
Mausoleum of Augustus.53According to the historians (Suet. Aug. 19.1, Dio
Cass. 51.16.5) Octavian after his entrance intoAlexandria visited the tomb of
Alexander and paid homage to the relic. Suetonius (Aug. 50.1) also related that
Augustus initiallyused a seal inhis official and personal correspondencewith the
emblem of a sphinx and then with the image of Alexander before substituting his
own. The emulation of Alexander in
style
and
iconography
on the
part
of Octa
vian and the generals of the Late Republic is awell-enough-known phenomenonnot to need repeating here.54Similarly, the popularity of "Egyptiaca" inAugustan court circles is a familiar artistic result of the conquest of Egypt. The "Egyp
tianizing"phase of second-stylewall painting is the best known decorative conse
quence, and the houses in the imperialproperty on thePalatine reflect this stylemost vividly. A frieze in the Aula Isiaca included the corona atef and the uraeus
incorporated as floral ornament. The corona atef is also found on theMausoleum
of Augustus. A marble fragment of the cornice contains it in one of the spaces
between the coffers.55 It is juxtaposed with a lotus motif in the recessed coffer;
the rosette appeared in a sketch of B. Peruzzi.56 But the atef crown here ismore
52. Ibid. 27.
53. This conclusion was drawn early byM.-L. Bernhard, "Tombeaud'Alexandre et Mausolee
d'Auguste," RA 47 (1956) 153; other references follow.
54. The "imitatio Alexandri" is a well-known topos in Roman antiquity and in Roman studies
with a copious bibliography. See, forexample, on theLate Republic: D. Michel, Alexander als Vorbild
fir Pompeius, Caesar und Marcus Antonius, Coll. Latomus 94 (Brussels, 1967); 0. Wippert,"Alexander-Imitatio und romische Politik in der republikanischenZeit" (diss.Wurzburg, 1972). For
Augustus in regard to theMausoleum in particular, see D. Kienast, "Augustus und Alexander,"
Gymnasium 76 (1969)430-56; althoughKienast (431n. 3) treatedextensively the influenceofAlexan
der on Augustan propaganda and symbolism, includingAugustus's visit toAlexander's tomb, he
followed K. Kraft (supra, n. 36) on thequestion of Alexander's tombasprototype for theMausoleum.
On Augustus, see also G. Marrone, "ImitatioAlexandri in eta augustea,"AeR 25 (1980) 35-41; M.
Menichetti, "La testa colossale della Pigna, il colossus diviAugusti e 'l'imitatioAlexandri' ineta giulio
claudia,"MEFRA 98 (1986)565-93 with bibliography;Menichetti (579-83) distinguished at least four
phases of the Augustan "imitatio" and compared itwith the Claudian. Compare G. Wirth, "Alexander
und Rom," inAlexandre leGrand: Image et reality,Entretiens sur l'Antiquite Classique (Geneva,
1975)22, esp. 184.E. Badian's "SomeRecent InterpretationsofAlexander" in the same volume (279
304) isa sobering reminderof thechangingmodes of historical interpretationand studies of Alexandersymbolism. See also F.Walbank, "Livy,Macedonia andAlexander," Ancient Macedonian Studies in
Honor of Charles F. Edson (Thessaloniki, 1981) 335-56, bibliography on 355 n. 107.
55. M. de Vos, Egittomania in pitture e mosaici romano-campani della prima eta imperiale
(Leiden, 1980)74; the fragment is illustrated in the frontispiece.This cornice isnow known tobe from
the second order; see v.Hesberg (supra, n. 31).While de Vos (60n. 137, 74) found the insertionof
Egyptian cultic objects in floral friezes prefigured in Ptolemaic friezes, she too thought the motifs
valuable for the hypothesis thatOctavian was inspiredby the tombof Alexander for his mausoleum.
56. A. Bartoli, "L'architettura del Mausoleo di Augusto," BdA, ser. 2, 7 (1927) fig. 14; see P.
Gros (supra, n. 32: 205) for a comment on another segment of this cornice illustrated in pl. xlvii.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 275
thanmere ornament. After Octavian's conquest of Egypt he reserved the coun
try as his private domain (Tac. Ann. 2.59), where he was hailed as "Son of Re."57
Theatef crown, then,
as apharaonic symbol
iscomparable
to the thunderbolton
the ceiling of theHouse ofAugustus or the agyieus from theTemple ofApollo.The objects asAugustan appropriations are ruler-cult emblems.
Neither K. Kraft nor J.-C. Richard utterly excluded thepossibility thatOcta
vian's decision to build his mausoleum was made in 30 B.C. when he entered
Alexandria.58 The tomb of Alexander as a prototype for theMausoleum, how
ever, appeared in the typological studieswith M. Eisner andV. Kockel.59Eisner,
having removed the imperialMausoleum from the private Roman tradition of
round tombs, was willing to see a connection with the tombs of theHellenistic
rulers and suggested the tumuli of the Numidian kings, the "Tombeau de la
Chretienne" and "LeMedracen" inAlgeria, as intermediariesbetween Alexan
der's tomb and Octavian's. F. Coarelli has recently reaffirmed the hypothesis of
theAlexandrian origin of theMausoleum ofAugustus in a study onHellenistic
Numidian tombs.60Coarelli reversed themore traditionalargumentwith his thesis
that the architectural form of Alexander the Great's mausoleum, which was mod
eled on the Macedonian tumulus-that is, amonument of circular form and thus a
revisionof the rectangular plan inheritedfrom themausolea of Halicarnassus and
of Asia Minor-is verified by itsmost perfect imitation, theMausoleum of Augus
tus. Coarelli's views are similar to mine on two major points, but he has added
other details in the most forceful argument to date. He too emphasized the politi
cal significanceof thevastAugustan constructionprogram in theCampusMartius
and asserted that the ideologicalmessage of theEgyptian references therewent
beyond amere "Egyptianizing"decor tocorrespond to the creation of a "veritable
new Alexandria" at Rome and thus a " 'national' riposte" to Antony, accused of
plotting to transfer the center of empire from Rome to Alexandria.61 He con
cluded that the number of Octavian's references to Alexander the Great
amounted to a virtual "filiation" or "assimilation" of the two persons.62
57. The traditional formula represented thepharaonic royalty's incarnation as Horus. Accord
ing toA. Bowman (Egypt after thePharaohs [Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1986] 37-38), documents
from the early Augustan years actually referred to Egypt as the kratesis, or dominion, of Caesar.
58. While Kraft (supra, n. 36: 200) would connect the date and motivation with Antony's burial
on theNile, Richard (supra, n. 10: 381-82, 384) had reservations because he believed that theword
mausoleum could not be used as evidence since it was not in use at Rome before 28 B.c. The real
prototypewas theMausoleum of Halicarnassus.
59. Eisner (supra, n. 1) 322;Kockel (supra, n. 14) 35 n. 293 with bibliography.60. Coarelli and Thebert (supra, n. 32) 761-818, esp. the section "Alexandre, laNumidie et
Rome," 786-800. The authors (798) believe that the tombs of circular plan of the Numidian dynasts
served as a "relai" between the tomb of Alexander and the Mausoleum of Augustus in the diffusion
of theAsiatic model of theHellenistic dynasticmausoleum.
61. Coarelli (supra, n. 32) 792 n. 48.
62. Note Octavian's gestures inEgypt showing his succession toAlexander (Coarelli [supra,n.
32] 788-89 n. 42, 813 n. 77); also note Coarelli's additions to the "imitatio Alexandri," 791 n. 47, 813
n. 77.
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276 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
The problem of the reconstruction of the tomb of Alexander, however, is a
difficult one.63The tomb has never been found, and the ancient sources provide
few and confusing references. Strabo (17.1.8) told the story of how PtolemySoter took possession of the body of Alexander and laid it "in its present resting
place" inAlexandria; other sources attribute this act to Philadelphus. It is a later
source, Zenobius (3.94), who added the important information that Ptolemy
Philopater built another mausoleum called the Sema for Alexander and his own
dynastic predecessors, who had been previously buried separately.64References
to the tomb of Alexander in the Roman period (Suet. Aug. 18, Dio Cass. 2.16.3
5, Herodian 4.8.9), then, must be to the combined mausoleum of Alexander and
the Ptolemies.65 The sources do not give the form of the later monument; recon
structions are based on two passages in Lucan (Pharsalia 8.692-99, 10.19).66
Even if Lucan's description may be taken to be reliable,67 scholars have
differences of opinion in their interpretationof his exactmeaning.68Accordingto H. Thiersch, Alexander was buried in a vaulted tomb (antrum, Pharsalia
8.692) towhich one descended underground.69Thiersch saw this underground
type as an Alexandrian columbarium; it was used in the earlier tomb built for
Alexander by Ptolemy Soter or Philadelphus. But the new element in Philo
pater's tombwas the artistically shaped conical tumulus (tumulis, 10.19) placedabove the vault; this was the specific feature that gave the tomb the name sema, a
highly visible marker or signum of a grave.70 The tumulus (extructus mons,
8.695), then, was a conical man-made mound; the type was of northern Macedo
nian origin, where it was used for royal tombs.Thiersch himself distinguishedAlexander's tomb from those of the other Ptolemies, which he saw as belonging
to another type, that is, a tomb in the form of a decorative smaller pyramid as
later in the tomb of Cestius at Rome.71 P. M. Fraser, however, did not find such
63. A treatment of the subject in regard to the Mausoleum of Augustus was given by Bernhard
(supra, n. 53). P. M. Fraser (Ptolemaic Alexandria [Oxford, 1972] I 15-17; II 17 n. 31, P 6; 31-42 nn.
79-92) discussed the appearance and location of the tomb of Alexander. Fraser (II 31-32) has a
discussion of the various historical sources. Bernhard and Fraser contain bibliographies of the older
literature.
64. Fraser (supra, n. 63) I 16, II 33 n. 80. Strabo (17.1.8) also mentioned in his description of
the royal precinct at Alexandria called "the Palaces" that theSema was an enclosure containing the
tombs of the kings and of Alexander.
65. Fraser (supra, n. 63) II 34 n. 82.
66. Lucan 8.692-99: "Cum tibi sacratoMacedon servetur in antro / Et regumcineres exstructo
monte quiescant, / Cum Ptolemaeorum manes seriemque pudendam / Pyramides claudant indig
naqueMausolea."67. Already inantiquityServius (inAen. 6.154) had remarked thatSeneca, thephilosopher and
Lucan's uncle who had spent time in Egypt and had written a work on the country, must have been
Lucan's source.
68. H. Thiersch ("Die alexandrinischeKonigsnekropole," JdI [1910]55-97) is still themost
thorough study of the reconstruction of Alexander's tomb and Lucan's description.69. The antrumof Lucan; the conditoriumof Suetonius (Thiersch [supra,n. 68] 71).70. The word sema seems to have been used especially for a tumulus; Herodotus (1.93) used it
for the Alyattes' tumulus (Thiersch [supra, n. 68] 65 n. 38, 70, 71, 84, 85, 90).
71. Thiersch (supra, n. 68) 68-69.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 277
a distinction in Lucan; to Fraser, Lucan described Alexander's tomb as having a
pyramidal superstructure over a vault, although he admitted thatmany varia
tions of thismight
beimagined.72
Other scholars have more or lessfollowed
these suggestions.73Some have thought to see depictions of Alexander's tomb among the repre
sentations of Alexandria found on Greco-Roman lamps, tesserae, terra-cottas,
mosaics, etc.74 Richard suggested that itwas possible that the representations on
the lampswere inspired by a model in the paintings found in the triumphal
procession of 29 B.C.75However, the representations on the lamps are very
cramped and stylized;76Fraser found the identifications "dangerous."77That Alexander's tomb type should have reflected hisMacedonian origins
seems reasonable. It also seems probable that Octavian would more likely have
had Alexander's tomb vividly inmind after his return to Rome, since he had just
seen itwith his own eyes, than the more remote example of the Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus. Alexander the Great would also have certainly furnished amore
likely model for Octavian than a Carian dynast. The tumulus, at least, of Augus
tus's tomb would then be a matter of Macedonian influence.78 The Alexandrian
precedent could also be mitigated or at least appear alongside the reference to
the archaizing Etruscan tumulus and thus to the conservative mos maiorum. But
probably no pyramidwas possible, whether on themodel of theMausoleum of
Halicarnassus or the mausolea of the Ptolemies or even on the order of the later
Augustan trophy of La Turbie, since the pyramid as a traditional symbol of
Egypt was too vivid a reminder of the civil war.79
But if the tomb of Alexander seems more than a logical precedent for the
Mausoleum of Augustus and has even begun to appear as such in the typologies,
the hypothesis may not be proven simply because the tomb has not been found,
and it seems possible that itmay never be, as even the location is debated and the
72. Fraser (supra, n. 63) 16, II 35 n. 83.
73. J.-C. Richard (supra, n. 10: 382) followedThiersch's distinction.M.-L. Bernhard (supra, n.
53: 142) interpretedLucan's description tomean a tumulus terminatedwith a pyramid. F. Coarelli
(supra, n. 32: 787) believed Lucan indicated that theMacedonian tumulus adopted forAlexander's
tombwas surrounded by the pyramid tombs of the three early Ptolemies.
74. Bernhard (supra, n. 53); Fraser (supra, n. 63) II 17 n. 31 P6 for a list.
75. Richard (supra, n. 10) 381.
76. A study such as Bernhard's (supra, n. 53) could not reallyovercome thisproblem.77. Fraser (supra, n. 63) II 17 n. 31.
78. It does not seem necessary to derive every feature of the Augustan mausoleum from
Alexander's asCoarelli, for example, does (supra, n. 32: 793). There aremore convincingprototypeselsewhere for the annular rings and corridors in particular.
79. It is debated as to exactly when the obelisks, as traditional a symbol of Egypt as the
pyramid, were set up in front of theMausoleum. These were brought directly fromEgypt, and it is
probable that theywere set up not too long after the completion of theMausoleum. These obelisks
could also have been seen as trophies or victory monuments, as the inscriptions on two other obelisks
set up in theCampusMartius in the SolariumAugusti and in theCircusMaximus explicitly state (see
infra).Compare Coarelli (supra, n. 32: 788-792, esp. 791 n. 48), who sees no ambiguity inanyof the
Egyptian references.
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278 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
unending searches have been negative. Therefore, since the argument at this
point inevitably comes to a dead end,80 it seems necessary to enlarge the circle of
discussion. I propose to do this by bringing into the discussion a building notordinarily seen inconnectionwith theMausoleum ofAugustus, one that not onlyserved as a link between Macedonians and Ptolemies but one that I believe
would have been suggestive in form and symbol if itwas not a direct prototypetheArsinoeion of Samothrace. The two buildings have both general architec
tural similarities and ruler-cultconnections. Further, theArsinoeion itself intro
duces a group of buildings related in type,which in turnhelp both tobroaden the
discussion ofMausoleum prototypes and to stress theMausoleum's classification
as atower-type building.
Thatis, theybring
the second architecturalorder, the
round temple or tholos, into the discussion, which for too long has centered
more or less exclusively on the tumulus, although themajor reason for this
limitation is understandable since only the first order of theMausoleum is extant
as a whole.
Samothrace, although a remote island at the top of the Aegean off the coast
of Macedonia and Thrace, is an important site for the study of the history of
architecture and religion and the role of both in international relations in the
Hellenistic world.81 The dynasties represented here were the royal families in
Macedonia and the Ptolemies of Egypt; their ruler cults and dynastic ambitions
were important predecessors andmodels for theRomans, whose involvement
later in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace was considerable.
The more recent archaeological evidence dates the development of the Samo
thracian sanctuary to the fourth century B.C.82This development was the result of
outside interest and a deliberate policy supported by a considerable outlay of
capital. This interest in and development of the sanctuary was aMacedonian
80. Unless one reverses the argument, as did Coarelli (supra, n. 32: 788).81. According to H. Thompson (in Macedonia and Greece in Late Classical and Early Hellenis
tic Times, Symposium Series I,National Gallery of Art [Washington,D.C., 1982]) 177, "it docu
ments in an extraordinarilyvividway the interplayof dynastic forces in the thirdand second centuries
B.C."
82. A good summary is found in S. Cole, Theoi Megaloi: The Cult of the Great Gods at
Samothrace (Leiden, 1984) 11-16. Earlier itwas believed that therewere "substantial"stone struc
tures in the sanctuary as early as the Archaic period. K. Lehmann had argued that the "Orthostate
Structure"underlying theAnaktoron, theArsinoeion, and their immediateperiphery and apredecessor to the Anaktoron was a "double precinct" built in the latter part of the seventh century B.C. and
that the first version of the Anaktoron was built in the late sixth century. However, J. McCredie's
excavations in 1974 substantially revised thedating.McCredie (Hesperia48 [1979]27-34) has shown
that Lehmann's "Double Precinct" had three rather than two divisions and that itwas built in the first
half of the fourth century B.C. rather than in the seventh century. Furthermore, McCredie claimed
that the Anaktoron was a building of the Early Imperial period rather than a sixth-century one.
Remains of a proto-Anaktoron on the same site as the Anaktoron date from the early third century
B.C.; theproto-Anaktoron was probably built at the same period as theArsinoeion, whose construc
tion had covered over the Orthostate Structure, Lehmann's other term for the "Double Precinct"
(Cole 11-16).
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 279
one, a resultof successfulmilitary expansion and an undertaking to enhance the
prestige of the dynasty.83
The Macedonianinvolvement
beganwith
Philip II,who
accordingto tradi
tion (Plut.Alex. 2.2) as a youth while undergoing initiation into theMysteriesmet and fell in love with Olympias, whom he later married.84 The first "substan
tial"building in the sanctuary, theOrthostate Structure,was built about the time
Philip II came to power inMacedonia, and the granderHieron was begunwhile
Alexander still ruled.85Three other buildingswere constructed duringAlexan
der's reign: the Temenos, the Altar Court, and a Doric building on the eastern
hill near the entrance to the sanctuary.86 The Altar Court (340-330 B.c.) and the
Doric rectangularexedra are linkedby inscriptions toPhilipArrhidaios, Alexan
der's elder half-brother and his "consort of sacred and religious ceremonies"
according to Curtius Rufus (10.7.2).87Although theHieron, the chief hall of
initiation, cannot yet be attributed to an individualpatron, its size and costlyThracian marble suggest the investment means of a member of the Macedonian
royal house, possiblyArrhidaios.88
There is, furthermore, some indication that Alexander himself was also
involved with this activity in the sanctuary. The possibility has also been raised
that Alexander was an initiate of the Mysteries, as his parents, Philip II and
Olympias, and as his half-brother seem to have been.89 Although Alexander,
unlike his father, seems to have wasted no time himself loitering at Samothrace,
it has been suggested that possiblyArrhidaios's sponsorship of theAltar Court
83. Cole (supra, n. 82) 20. Earlier, A. Fraser ("Macedoniaand Samothrace: Two Architectural
Late Bloomers," inMacedonia and Greece inLate Classical andEarlyHellenistic Times) andThompson (supra, n. 81) had noted theMacedonian connection, and P. M. Fraser (Samothrace2,1: The
Inscriptions on Stone [NewYork, 1960] 13 [hereafter Fraser, Samothrace 2,1]) had concluded that
thedecisive element in the development of the sanctuarywasMacedonian patronage.84. While the
story maywell be romantic fiction,
Philip'sassociation with the
sanctuaryis
probably fact. Curtius Rufus's (8.1.26) report thatAlexander criticized his father for spending so
much time at Samothracewhen he could have been conqueringAsia suggestsPhilip's special interest
inSamothrace (Cole [supra, n. 82] 17).85. Cole (supra, n. 82) 16.
86. The precinct of the temenos was enclosed by walls, and a propylon was constructed at its
entrance sometime after 340 B.C. The excavator, P. Lehmann (Skopas in Samothrace [North
hampton, 1974]8-14), attributed the architecturaldesign toSkopas of Paros. A. Stewart (Skopas ofParos [ParkRidge, 1977] 108) suggested a slightly later date thanLehmann, but agreed that the
propylon was finished by 330-320 B.C. (cited by Cole [supra, n. 82] 16 n. 124). Lehmann had
suggested that itwas Philip II himselfwho had contributed theoriginal donation for thisbuilding, the
earliest to use marble in the sanctuary (Cole 16 n. 125).87. The inscription bore the names of both Arrhidaios and Alexander IV, the posthumous son
of Alexander (A. Fraser [supra, n. 83] 194-95; Thompson [supra,n. 81] 179 n. 32; compare Fraser,
Samothrace 2,1, 41-48; Cole [supra, n. 82] 16-17, 19).88. A. Fraser (supra, n. 83) 195;H. Ehrhardt (Samothrake:Heiligtiimer in ihrrer andschaft
undGeschichte alsZeugen antiken Geisteslebens [Stuttgart, 1985] 74) suggestedArrhidaios.
89. The inscription on the Altar Court may name Arrhidaios as both donor and a priest of the
Kabeiroi (Ehrhardt [supra, n. 88] 72, 213-15); however, the interpretation of the Altar Court
inscription is debated. Compare Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 45-47, and Cole (supra, n. 82) 18-19.
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280 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
was a direct expression of the lastwishes ofAlexander, who was accompanied byhis half-brother on hisAsian campaign up to his death inBabylon in 323 B.C.90
Alexander contributed to individual temple projects and according toDiodorus(18.4.4) had planned to construct temples at six Greek sites.91 If Arrhidaios was
the likelymember of Alexander's familyactually responsible for the execution of
the plan to develop the sanctuary at Samothrace, themotivation was not the
result of an "eccentric interest in promoting an obscure cult" but a "desire to
legitimizeMacedonian supremacy"by creating a religious center in the north to
rival those of Olympia, Delphi, and Delos.92 The plan was successful, as the
continuing popularity and influence of Samothrace in the next century show.
Thus the tradition of Alexander both as a temple founder and as the most
prominent member of theMacedonian dynasty that built up the Samothracian
sanctuary, home of the Roman Penates (see below), would have been an impor
tantprecedent in the influence of Alexander's history and imageryonAugustusand inthe choice of prototypes for hisMausoleum. But perhaps evenmore influen
tial for an Augustan association with Alexander was the legend (Plut. Alex. 2.2) of
Olympias's conception ofAlexander connectedwith her "Dionysiac"-typeorgieswith snakes, presumably at Samothrace,93 a legend thatwas doubtless partly
90. In Flavius Philostratus's biography of Apollonius of Tyana (2.43), it was reported that
Apollonius in his travels to India in the first century A.D. came upon an altar near the river Hyphasis
thatAlexander had dedicated todifferent gods. The Samothracian godswere includedwith Ammon.
Herakles, Athena Pronaia, Olympian Zeus, the Indian sun god, and Delphic Apollo (Ehrhardt
[supra, n. 88] 215;Cole [supra, n. 82] 17).91. Cole (supra, n. 82) 18.While the Ephesians refused Alexander's donation and offer to
dedicate the new temple of Artemis, Priene accepted a contribution for the new temple of Athena
Polias and in turn gave Alexander the right to dedicate the building. He also had the temple of Bel in
Babylon rebuilt.While the listof projected temples occurs inamuch-disputed passage supposed to
contain Alexander's posthumousmemoranda, the tradition thatAlexander planned temple founda
tions inGreece at Delos, Delphi, Dodona, Dion, Amphipolis, Kyrrhos, and in Asia at Ilion is
supported by the situation in Greece at the time of his death. Of these temples only the one at Ilion is
known to have been built. Of the Greek sites, three are major cult centers. Olympia is not men
tioned, but Philip had already put a building there to enhanceMacedonian prestige. The other three
sites are located inMacedonia, where considerable building activity has been proven. "Samothrace.
like the second group, was a site located near Macedonia, and like the first group, was a site of
international reputation. Unlike Delphi, Delos andOlympia, however, Samothrace was relatively
underdeveloped and therefore attractive toMacedonian interests .... If it was not Alexander him
self who chose to contribute temples at Samothrace, it is likely to have been someone close to him or
someone inhis immediate family" (Cole [supra, n. 82] 18).92. Cole (supra, n. 82) 19-20.
93. Plutarch did not say specifically that the conceptionor
Olympias's imitation of the riteswith snakes took place at Samothrace. But he tied a series of stories to the fact of the couple's
meeting and initiation at Samothrace. One of the versions of Olympias's conception was then tied
to her imitation of "Orphic rites and the orgies of Dionysus." While the connecting idea here
appears to be the snakes, the initiation into the Mysteries of Samothrace seems to be the initial
theme in this succession of stories, and Samothrace would be the probable locus for an association
ofMystery cult-type rites.
If the story of Olympias's intercourse with the serpent was her own-and according to E.
Badian ("The Deification of Alexander the Great," Ancient Macedonian Studies inHonor of Charles
F. Edson [Thessaloniki, 1981] 44), it does seem to go back to her own account-Samothrace would
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 281
instrumental in theRoman myth (Suet.Aug. 2.94) of Atia's conception ofAugustus through the snake in the temple of Apollo.94
During the third centuryAlexander's successors took a special interest inSamothrace, and the Mysteries continued to be important not only to the Mace
donian kings but also to the Ptolemies as well. The monumental propylon that
gave entrance to the sanctuary is ascribed to Ptolemy II on the basis of its
inscription.95The formula of the inscriptionsdates the structure to ca. 285-280
B.C.,approximately the same period as theArsinoeion.96Arsinoe, at the time of
the dedication of the roundbuilding,was still thewife of Lysimachus and queen,and thus a link between Macedonian and Ptolemaic patronage. At least two
round buildingswere dedicated to her.97
Lysimachus,
who
reigned
as
king
from
299 to 281 B.C., is the subject of two decrees found at Samothrace that reveal his
involvement in the life of the sanctuary,98 and it is likely that he was an initiate.99
Lysimachus died in 281 B.C., leaving the Ptolemies the dominant power in the
be a logical locus in view both of her own initiation there and of the Macedonian royal family's
continued interest in the sanctuary,whether the eventwas some culticphenomenon perceived as real
or alleged propaganda. Compare thisaspect of Plutarch's story about Alexander's divine conceptionwith Plutarch's legend of the divine procreation of Alexander by Ammon (Alex. 3.1-2) and the
versions of Augustus's conception inSuetonius (Aug. 94) and Dio Cassius (45.1), which are treatedin P. Grandet, "Les songes d'Atia et d'Octavius: Note sur les rapportsd'Auguste et de l'Egypt,"
RHR 203 (1986) 365-79, esp. 368 n. 6 on Plutarch's version;Grandet's emphasison Egyptian sources
is noted byCoarelli (supra, n. 32) 791 n. 47.
94. Simon (supra, n. 45: 14-19, 26, 31-33) gave thehistory of this legend.95. A. Fraser (supra, n. 83) 199.
96. Although Ptolemy IIPhiladelphus dedicated the propylon while Ptolemy Soter, father of
Arsinoe and Philadelphus, was still alive, and Beloch had argued that the dedication must have been
made after Samothrace had come into the Ptolemaic political orbit and assumed that this had
happened throughArsinoe's marriage toPhiladelphus, bothArsinoe and Philadelphus, asmembers
of a prominent family originally fromMacedonia, would have been interested inSamothrace because
of theMacedonian connection as well (Cole [supra,n. 82] 22).97. One of the two funerary shrines erected later for the deified queen and her dynastic cult at
Alexandria was a small round temple called theZephyrion (D. B. Thompson, Ptolemaic Oinochoai
and Portraits in Faience:Aspects of theRuler-Cult [Oxford, 1973] 57, 66-67; Ehrhardt [supra, n. 88]
298). It was dedicated by Kallikrates, an admiral of Ptolemy from Samos. According to Kalli
machos's poem EktheosisArsinoes, her apotheosis took place there. The name of theother funeraryshrine, the Arsinoeion, was an antique one in contrast to the round building at Samothrace by the
same name (Thompson 72; Ehrhardt 298; Fraser, Samothrace2,1, 50 no. 10).Although the shape of
this shrine is not known, the Arsinoeion at Samothrace may well have been the prototype for at least
the round temple at Zephyrion. The Ptolemies and Arsinoe in particularwere devoted to the
Samothracian gods, the Kabeiroi, who, early equated with the Dioskouroi, were worshipped assavior gods in Ptolemaic Egypt and were linked with the royal house as synnaoi (Fraser [supra, n. 63]
207). It is probable that the Arsinoeion at Alexandria, especially if it too was a round building, and
the Zephyrion, as monuments erected to the Ptolemaic ruler cult, also had some influence on the
Mausoleum of Augustus.98. IG XII.8, no. 150 = SIG3 no. 372; Cole (supra, n. 82) 17, 21, 22; Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88)
290; Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 13. See also J. McCredie, "Samothrace: Preliminary Report on the
Campaigns of 1965-1967," Hesperia 37 (1968) 220-21; Ehrhardt 136,290-91.
99. An unusual story in Diodorus (21.10.12.20) has been taken to suggest that Lysimachus was
an initiateof theMysteries; see Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88: 291-92) for details.
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282 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
Aegean, as thePtolemaion in the sanctuaryof Samothrace of approximately the
same period bears witness.100
J.McCredieplaced
the Doric stoa on the western hill of thesanctuary in the
same half-century as theArsinoeion and thePropylon of Ptolemy II.101Althoughthe patron's name is not known, in the context of the politics of the other
monuments the donor was likely to have been aMacedonian one likewise.102 In
any case a column honoring Philip V of Macedon was put up in front of it ca. 200
B.C.103Considering the ties between Macedonia and Samothrace in this and the
next generation, itwas natural that Philip's son Perseus would have sought
asylum at Samothrace after his defeat at Pydna in 168 B.C. Furthermore, there is
evidence that Samothrace as neutral territory where theoroi of the Aegean met
toworship togethermay have had special recognition by all three of themajorHellenistic dynasties, includingnot only theMacedonians and Ptolemies but also
the Seleucids.104 Samothrace continued to maintain its position as an interna
tional center and a place for display of international documents even after Mace
donia became a Roman province.105
The form of the Arsinoeion and its function within the sanctuary must now
be considered before turning to what the Romans knew of Samothrace and the
Great Gods. The Arsinoeion, as the largest enclosed, domed, and nonperipteral
round building in the ancient world before Hadrian's Pantheon, must have been
the most famous of the buildings on Samothrace and one widely known in the
Hellenistic Greek world. The rotundawas a novel design (Fig. 3).106 he cylindrical drum was surmounted by a gallery of Doric pilasters. The pillars alternated
with low parapets; the walls above may have contained windows. The Doric
architrave was surmounted by the dome of the roof, which was remarkable for
the technical skill of its wooden frame, spanning over 17 m. The roof construc
100. It is worthwhile to note in the wider context of Hellenistic dynastic monuments and tombs
that influenced the Mausoleum of Augustus that the Mausoleum of Belevi, in type closely related to
the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, was considered by some to have been built for Lysimachus about
285-281 B.C., although the heroin was never completed (H. Bauer, "KorinthischeKapitelle des 4.
und 3. Jahrhundertsv.Chr.," AM-BH 3 [1973]119;C. Praschniker,M. Theuer, Das Mausoleum von
Belevi, Ephesus 6 [Vienna, 1979] 118.Compare G. Hanfmann, From Croesus toConstantine: The
Cities of Western Asia Minor and Their Arts in Greek and Roman Times [Ann Arbor, 1975] 37-38).
101. J. McCredie, "Samothrace: Preliminary Report on the Campaigns of 1962-1964,"
Hesperia 34 (1965) 101-16.
102. A. Fraser (supra, n. 83) 201.
103. The dedication of his statue to the Theoi Megaloi implies that Philip V was an initiate, as
does the fact that the Theoi Samothrakes are included in the oath sworn by the Lysimacheians in the
treatybetween Philip and Lysimacheia (Cole [supra,n. 82] 24 n. 1.).104. Ibid. n. 2.
105. Ibid. n. 3.
106. A short description inA. W. Lawrence, Greek Architecture, 4th ed., rev. R. A. Tomlinson
(Middlesex, 1983) 245-46; F. Seiler, Die griechische Tholos: Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung,
Typologie und Function kunstmdssigerRundbauten (Mainz, 1986) 108-12, contains a more detailed
one with bibliography.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 283
tion is still discussed; itwas probably conical.107 The wall above the foundation of
sandstone was of marble fromThasos; themarble plates of the euthynteria lay
directly on the foundation. An Anthemion frieze led to the orthostate rowof thedistinctively high ashlarmasonry wall, which was concluded with a frieze of lotus
and palmettes. A single door led into the interior.
It is ironic that the earlier reconstructions of the elevation of theMausoleum
of Augustus that followed themodern excavations (1926-30) showed a greaterresemblance to the reconstruction of the elevation of the Arsinoeion than the
laterones.108A. Bartoli and others, largelyon the basis of B. Peruzzi's perspective sketch, saw the Mausoleum's exterior wall as constituted of two more or less
equalunits, one
superimposedon the other.109 artoli understood the
upper partto be decorated with pilasters and crowned with an entablature with Doric frieze.
Above the entablature would have risen the conical tumulus, similar in shape to
the conical roof of theArsinoeion. However, laterG. Gatti, taking the results of
the recent excavations intoconsideration, saw thata base formed of two superim
posed drums was not possible.110 Gatti insisted that a second architectural order
was imposed on the first but that the second order was sustained not by the
exterior base wall but by one of the interior annular rings, the second from the
center. Gatti supposed that the wall of the second order either had been deco
ratedwith pilasters or had been surrounded by a portico supported by the third
annular wall. Thus if Gatti was correct, the second order would have been a
round-temple type, a tholos, whether peripteral or not. If the closed wall had
alternated with pilasters and screens and was crowned with the Doric entabla
ture, it would have been somewhat comparable to the top section of the
Arsinoeion. P. Gros, in commenting on the relative rarity of monumental con
structions of pseudoperipteral type in the Hellenistic period in contrast to the
frequent use in the fourth century of lateral colonnades, remarked on the "rejec
tion" of the decorative gallery as an actual colonnade of the tholos of the
Arsinoeion and attributed this to the necessity of reserving the largest possible
107. Seiler (supra, n. 106) 112 n. 456 with bibliography.108. G. Niemann's perspective sketch of the elevation (restored) of theArsinoeion (found in
earlier studies of A. Conze, A. Hauser, G. Niemann, Archaeologische Untersuchungen aufSamothrake I [Vienna, 1875] liv)has frequentlybeen reproduced in the literatureon Samothrace, as
in Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88) fig. 46, Seiler (supra, n. 106) figs. 43-44, and in the surveys such as J.
Pollitt, Art in theHellenistic Age (Cambridge, 1986) fig. 253.
109. Bartoli (supra, n. 61) fig. 9 (Peruzzi's perspective sketch); E. Fiorilli, "A proposito del
mausoleo di Augusto," BdA 7 (1927) 214-19 fig. 3; R. A. Cordingly and I.A. Richmond, "TheMausoleum of Augustus," BSR 10 (1927) 23-35.
110. Gatti (supra, n. 33: [1934] 460) felt that two factors in particular signified a second
architectural order: (1) another drawing by B. Peruzzi (Uffizi 392; Gatti's fig. 10) showed an
entablaturewith Doric cornicewith frieze of triglyphsandmetopes. The notable size of thewhole,
includingarchitrave, frieze, and cornice, was indicatedby Peruzzi asmore than 2m; (2) the second
(from the interior) annular wall was thicker than the others and therefore ought to have had a special
function. This wall was also the only one in addition to that of the cella dressed with travertine opus
quadratum on both sides.
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284 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
area at the ground level for the cultic ceremonies.11 In any case, after Gatti's
reconstruction the Mausoleum in elevation is now taken to be a tower-typemonument
and therefore differs, strictly speaking, from the unicum of theArsinoeion. This dissimilarity does not necessarily mean, however, that the
Arsinoeion could not have been influential in theMausoleum's conception. If
Octavian had requested amonumental round building such as had not been seen
in Italybefore, themost famous prototype towhich his architects could turn for
the enormous drum would have been the Arsinoeion. Furthermore, ifmodels
were sought for a nonperipteral type of tholos to serve as theMausoleum's
second order, then theArsinoeion would have been a rareprototype;whereas if
themore usual tholos with colonnade was desired, there were possible models
closer to home, the round temple near the Tiber or Temple B in the Largo
Argentina at Rome.112 Moreover, the Mausoleum was a composite creation not
only of two different orders, tumulus and tholos, but of particular internal fea
tures that also must be taken into account.
The American excavations on Samothrace have established the function of
theArsinoeion. The unusual round building was a thymele, a building for the
worship of chthonic divinities bymeans of a bothros where liquid offerings could
be poured down to the underworld gods.113The foundations of theArsinoeion
were laid out to include ancient pre-Greek ritual areas, called "rock altars" by
the excavators because these rock structures recalled the Phrygian rock altars
affiliated with the cult of the Great Mother goddess, Cybele.114 Cybele was
depicted on the coinage of Samothrace,115 and both the goddess and her entour
age appeared persistently in the ancient literarysources regarding theorigin and
rites of the Samothracian cult. When the Greeks settled in Samothrace, they
built over the old native sanctuary an open-air "double precinct" in which the
northern section preserved the old sacred rockwhile the southernpart contained
a bothros in the shape of a beehive.116 The primitive form of the bothros and its
shaft into which the blood of the sacrificial sheep was evidently poured down to
the underworld reminded K. Lehmann of Homer's Nekyia and of Odysseus
111. Gros (supra, n. 32) 171.
112. F. Rakob, W.-D. Heilmeyer, Der Rundtempel am Tiber inRom (Mainz, 1973) 35-39. esp.
n. 33, for a summary of the dating of Roman tholoi.
113. K. Lehmann, "Samothrace: Third Preliminary Report," Hesperia 19 (1950) 13 n. 46:
"Samothrace: FourthPreliminaryReport," Hesperia
20(1951)
10.
114. Lehmann (supra, n. 113:Hesperia 1950, 7-21; Hesperia 1951, 1-10) includesa summary
of the earlier report.McCredie's later revisionswere noted supra, n. 82.
115. Cybele enthroned and attended by a lionon theHellenistic bronze coinage of Samothrace
in P. Lehmann, D. Spittle, Samothrace 5, The Temenos (Princeton, 1982) (hereafter P. Lehmann.
Samothrace 5) 221 fig. 189.
116. According to Lehmann's early estimate (supra, n. 113: Hesperia 1950, 10-11; Hesperia
1951, 3) the second major building period beneath the Arsinoeion was represented by the
"Orthostate Structure" and occurred in the seventh century B.C. Compare McCredie's later revision
of a triple precinct and date, supra, n. 82.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 285
killing a ram over a pit at the entrance to the nether world.117 Furthermore, the
Samothracian circle of gods included a king and queen of the underworld,
Axiokersos andAxiokersa,
and Lehmann concluded that the southern section of
the precinct belonged to these underworld gods, who were worshipped at the
bothros "in a loose fusion" with the Great Mother of the Rocks, the Kabeiroi,
and Kadmilis. Another arrangement evidently supplanted the old beehive
shaped bothros of the earlier precinct but continued the tradition of the
Arsinoeion as a thymele.18The chthonic characterof the offerings is stressed bythe ornament between theCorinthian half-columns on the parapet above. The
rosettes are actually phialai with central omphalos, customarily used in liquid
offerings of blood orwine.19 The bucrania decorated with sacrificial ribbonhave
reminded some of the sacrifice of black cows in the enagismoi of the Heroon of
Palaimon. 20
However, the ritesperformed in theArsinoeion may not have been confined
to chthonic burnt offerings and libations.121. Ehrhardt has offered a hypothesisfor the ceremony that took place in the round building.'22He suggested that a
wooden platform ran around the interiorwall.123The excavators at Samothrace
identified the stone block found in the middle of the round building under the
original floor as the base for a high torch.Not only the torchbut the largenumber
of oil lamps found in the Arsinoeion testify to nocturnal ceremonies; the clay
lampswere thenused by themystai.124Ehrhardt suggested thatafter theofferings
117. Lehmann (supra, n. 113)Hesperia 1950, 11-12 pl. 9 fig. 21.
118. The prominent position of a deep shaft builtwith the original structure of theArsinoeion
next to its entrance and the presence of a large number of sheep bones and several ram's horns
indicated the sacrificialpurpose of a bothros (Lehmann [supra,n. 113]Hesperia 1951, 8-10, pl. 9 fig.
22).119. Seiler (supra, n. 106) 77 n. 295with bibliography.120. Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88) 286.
121. The rotunda probably served not only for the more narrowly cultic purpose but also as a
meeting hall for assemblies and for the reception of the international ambassadors (the6roi) who
gathered there to offer sacrificeson behalf of their states (K. Lehmann, Samothrace:A Guide to the
Excavations and theMuseum [Locust Valley, 1975] 25, 54) (hereafter Lehmann, Samothrace:
Guide). In fact Seiler (supra, n. 106) found this interpretation themost convincing up to now. He
noticed the building's affinity with early Hellenistic assembly halls and found analogies for its
typology, especially inMacedonian palace architecture and the facades of representative funeraryarchitecture (113n. 469; n. 470 forbibliography). Seiler found itmore difficult to specify the type of
ritual. He suspected that the round hall may have had less to do with the cult sacrifices themselves
than with sacrificial banquets and the cultic festivities connected with them (115 n. 478). The window
gallery
also
suggested
a
dining
hall. The
assembly
of the6roi
may
have held their sacral transactions
here at the community ritual meal in observance of their roles as mystai of the cult (115 n. 479).
122. Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88) 288.
123. According to Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88: 288), excavation showed an elevation of the groundall around the interior of the Arsinoeion. It seems as if the zone of the orthostates was not even
visible in the interiorof thebuilding. This detail in addition to the remarkablyhighwall ledEhrhardt
to suppose that a wooden podium ran around the interior.He compared theTelesterion of Eleusis
with its stone steps before the interior wall. Seiler (supra, n. 106: 115 n. 476) noted that the height of
the floor level had not yet been clarified.
124. Lehmann (supra, n. 113)Hesperia 1950, 15-18.
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286 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
the participants of the cult, being led by a priest and holding lighted lamps,
stepped from the podium and, proceeding in a linked chain, approached the lit
torch in the center inever-narrowing spirals.The spiraldance, probably accompanied by music, could produce a trance or ekstasis.125 hrhardt concluded that
telete,thecompletion or high point of theMystery celebrations and actsnecessaryfor the epopteia, the second degree of theMysteries, took place then in the
Arsinoeion.126The hypothesis of thewooden frame for theArsinoeion is reason
able in light of the wooden platforms Lehmann claimed for the Anaktoron, al
though here base stones for the wooden construction were actually preserved
along the walls.127
There is also someliterary
evidence for thisgeneral type
of dance. Plato
(Euthyd. 277d) spoke of a teleteof theCorybantes called thronosis, inwhich the
initiate sat on a throne while a dance was performed around him before his
initiation.28The essence of the ceremony (and the verb perikathairo) seemed to
be in the making of a circle around a person accompanied by music and the
dance. Statius (Ach. 2.157) referred to religious dances on Samothrace: "modo
quo Curetes inactu /quoque pii Samothraces eunt,"where the context suggestedthat he was thinking of an "interlacing choral movement" used inCabiric rites.129
Cybele or Rhea was mistress of the Corybantes and Curetes. The title of a lost
Orphic work, ThronismoiMetrooi, suggested that such a ritualwas associated
with Cybele. "FromPherecydes onwards ancientwriters often assimilatedCabiri
andCorybantes, and Strabo (X, pp. 466-67 [10.3.7-9]) makes itclear that there
was no little resemblance between the emotional ceremonies of Cabiri, Curetes,
andCorybantes, as well as between popular concepts of Corybantes, Curetes,
and Cabiri as identified with Dioscuri."130 Lehmann had drawn attention to the
construction of a platform in the Anaktoron characterized by its "double bot
tom."'31The hollow inside the supporting ring of field stones was probably
meant as a "resounding space" that multiplied the effect of beating the ground in
dances, as was characteristic of the Corybantic ritual. Presumably the powers
inherent in circular motion would be similar whether the initiate himself or an
instrument of his initiation, such as the torch or an altar, was at the center of such
ecstatic dances in the Anaktoron and in the Arsinoeion. This type of magic.
inherent in the circle and the making of a circle, will also appear in the rituals of
125. Ehrhardt (supra, n. 88) 288 n. 46.
126. Ibid. 289; compare Cole (supra, n. 82) 26-29 for the arguments of two versus threeseparate rites (myesis, telete,epopteia) in the Samothracian initiation.
127. K. Lehmann, "Samothrace:Second PreliminaryCampaign,"AJA 44 (1940) 331-34; Cole
(supra, n. 82: 29) advised caution until the final reporton theAnaktoron ispublished.128. A. D. Nock, "Cabiric Rite," AJA 45 (1941) 579.
129. Ibid. 579.
130. They were all concerned with deliverance; as theCabiri, Dioscuri, andCuretes became
more widely prominent in the Hellenistic period, the Cabiri or Curetes probably absorbed
Corybantic rites (Nock [supra, n. 128]580-81).131. Ibid. 577-78, 580-81.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 287
circumambulation and in the function of the annular corridors of the tholos at
Epidaurus and theMausoleum of Augustus.132
A. Conze on his return from his first trip to Samothrace in 1858 had com
pared Statius's passage about Samothracian dances with the relief of dancingwomen from the sanctuary.133hile this frieze is now known to have come from
the entablature of thepropylon of the temenos and hence cannot attest todances
held in the Arsinoeion, nor even prove the probability of those held in the
temenos for that matter, it is the most valuable witness to the role of the dance in
the Samothracian cult.134 he frieze has generally been interpreted sinceConze
as figures performing a cult dance, although itwas debated whether the dances
were done in the Samothracian cult as a whole or within the actual
Mysteries.
C.
Picard, for example, had suggested that they were the kourai of Cybele, a
"choros"performing a perpetual lustration."'35 . Lehmann described the "cho
rus" of maidens with clasped hands as dancing in a long "chain" with figures
moving in two directions.136She identified the polos worn by the participants as
the type customarilyworn by theGreat Goddess and her votaries. The lowpolosofMycenaean typewas worn byAphrodite andCybele inparticular.The Helle
nistic coinage and a terra-cotta figure from the sanctuary show the Great God
dess of Samothrace with this ritualpolos.137Lehmann found prototypes for this
chorus in the chains of draped female figureswearing low poloi and claspinghands that occurred frequently on lateGeometric andOrientalizing pots.'38The
cult scenes with ritual dancers honoring the Great Mother on these pots sug
gested that the dancing maidens on the propylon performed a similar liturgy in
honor of the Samothracian Great Goddess, perhaps in the temenos. Moreover,
since dancing was a standard feature of weddings, and since a key element in the
Samothracian legend was the wedding of Kadmos and Harmonia (Diodorus
5.49.1), the frieze of the propylonmay represent the celebration of this legend
ary wedding, which was probably in itself a "paraphrase" of the hieros gamos of
the Mysteries.'39 Thus while the dancers of the propylon frieze may well have
referred to a particular aspect of the cultic celebrations or to the sacred drama
performed within the temenos itself, a ritual dance in honor of the Great Mother
132. See infra.133. Nock (supra, n. 128) 579 n. 11;P. Lehmann, Samothrace 5, 12.
134. For the history and description of this frieze, see P. Lehmann, Samothrace 5, 172-262.
135. Ibid. 220.
136. Ibid. 201, 222 n. 135.137. Ibid. 221 fig. 189 (coin), fig. 190 (terra-cotta).138. Ibid. 223 figs. 191-93, 244 fig. 208, 225-26 figs. 194-95. The arrangement of dancers
around the surface of these pots necessarily suggests circularmotion. On a seventh-century bronze
bowl from Idalion inCyprus, now in theMetropolitan Museum ofArt inNew York, an enthroned
goddess isaccompanied by a priestess, an offering table, a line of sixdraped female dancerswearing
poloi and clasping hands, and three female musicians playing the double flute, a kithara, and a
tympanum, the same instrumentsplayed in the great frieze and also three instruments found in the
service of Cybele (P.Lehmann, Samothrace 5, 229 fig. 198, 230).139. Ibid. 222 and n. 166.
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288 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
may have taken place in one or more buildings or spaces of the sanctuary,
including theArsinoeion. Certainly "the dance" came to be understood as symbolic not
onlyof the Samothracian cult in
particular but,even as
Lucian reported, of the ancientMystery cult ingeneral.140
Statius's reference suggests at least Roman literary acquaintancewith the
Samothracian Mysteries. It should now at this point be asked if itwas probable
thatOctavian himself, Agrippa, or their advisers and architects would have
known the Arsinoeion, and therefore if it was likely that it would have been
one of the designs influential in the choice of a monumental round tomb,
before proceeding to argue the connection between the Arsinoeion as a
thymele and related structures. Indeed Samothrace and its sanctuary had a
particular appeal to the Romans for a number of reasons. Literary tradition
and excavated remains both testify to this fact. After the Roman establishment
of the province of Macedonia in 148 B.C., the island of Samothrace, where
Perseus had taken refuge, was left independent under Roman protection. P. M.
Fraser thought it probably was no "coincidence" that just at the time of Roman
activity on Samothrace in connection with Perseus "a close sentimental link"
was established between the island and the power that had replaced Mace
don.141 While the sanctuary seems to have been known by the Romans
earlier-Marcellus in 212/11 B.C. had dedicated some of the booty from Syra
cuse there (Plut. Marc. 30.6)-the proximity to the Roman province of Mace
donia made the sanctuary a resort of Roman provincial officials.142 Judging
from the striking prominence of the Romans among the surviving lists of the
mystai, it seems to have been customary from the first century B.C. on for the
Roman governor and members of his staff to be initiated. While these initia
tions and the dedications made to both city and sanctuary by Roman officials
may have been due to political tact, it is also true that from an early date the
great numbers of other Roman visitors, "soldiers and officials in transit, mer
chants, and freedmen," suggest that the island was especially appealing to
Romans.143 Although Romans from an early period on showed interest in other
Greek sanctuaries, they were an important part of the Samothracian clientele,
as the initiate lists show.144
While the earliest provincial administrator from Macedonia to be mentioned
at Samothrace was L. Julius Caesar, proconsul inMacedonia in 93/92 B.C., who
was probably an initiate,145 the most famous Roman connected to the sanctuary
140. Lucian, Peri Orcheseos 15; citation in P. Lehmann Samothrace 5, 230.
141. Fraser, Samothrace, 2,1, 12-16; Cole (supra, n. 82) 92-93.
142. Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 12, 15;N. Lewis, ed. & trans., Samothrace 1, TheAncient Liter
ary Sources (NewYork, 1958) (hereafterLewis, Samothrace 1) no. 197.
143. Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 16;Lehmann (supra, n. 127) 358.
144. For detailed information on theseRoman initiates, see Cole (supra, n. 82) 87-103.
145. According to Cole (supra, n. 82: 90) he made a dedication addressed to the Samothracian
Theoi Megaloi at Samothrace during the year of his office.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 289
was L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Caesar's father-in-law, consul in 58 B.C.146
Piso, at the end of his consulate, left Rome to be proconsul of Macedonia (57-55
B.C.).According to H. Bloch, at least, itmay be inferred from Cicero (Pis. 89)that Piso not only visited Samothrace from Macedonia with his suite and Greek
friends but was initiated into the Mysteries while there.147 The catalogues of
mystai from the end of the Republic begin with the name of a noble Roman, then
follow with his family, friends, freedmen, attendants, and slaves. Piso's name
was found in an inscription on a base at Samothrace.148
Bloch suggested that Varro was also an initiate since he referred (LL 5.58)
to theMysteries with the words "ut Samothracum initia docent."'49 As Pompey's
legate in the war against the pirates in 67 B.C. he would have had occasion to visit
Samothrace. Six years earlier, in 73 B.c., Lucullus had sent his legate Voconius
to Nicomedia to interceptMithridates, but Voconius, according to Plutarch
(Luc. 13.1-2), had lingered in Samothrace to get initiated and had allowed
Mithridates to escape.The witness of such men as Varro and Piso is important particularly in regard
to the question of Augustus's knowledge of Samothrace. Varro and Piso were
the leading representatives of old Roman virtue and religiosity, and their sympathetic attitude toward the foreign Mystery cult of Samothrace was evidently not
inconsistent with this reputation.150 Indeed Piso as a member of the old
nobility-the very "imago antiquitatis" as Cicero (Sest. 19) at least would have
it151-is likely to have shared the belief that the Samothracian gods were con
nected to the Penates and to the Trojan legends, traditions of great importance
toAugustus. Moreover, Piso's broader philhellenic tendencieswere famous. His
patronage of Philodemus, the most famous Epicurean of his age, and the cre
ation of his villa at Herculaneum (ca. 50 B.C.), called the Villa of the Papyri, bear
witness to these interests.152 An epigram of Philodemus in which he invited his
146. H. Bloch, "L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus in Samothrace and Herculaneum," AJA 44
(1940) 485-93.
147. According to Bloch (ibid. 488), the phrase "Samothraciam te . . .contulisti" was under
stood to refer to the initiation itself.Compare Cole (supra,n. 82) 90;Cole, however, also considers it
quite possible thatPiso was an initiate.
148. Fraser, Samothrace 2, 1, no. 18, pp. 56-57. According toFraser, the inscriptionwas not
from the sanctuary as Bloch had assumed but from Chora. It may then have stood in the town, as
Piso is called patronus of the city. Therefore, although Piso may have been initiated at some time,
this inscriptiondoes not prove it.
149. Bloch (supra, n. 146) 489.
150. Cole (supra, n. 82: 91)mentions the fact that since theMysteries of Samothrace appealedon the whole to a different class of Romans than the clientele of the Mysteries of Isis and Magna
Mater, they were never a social threat.
151. Bloch (supra, n. 146) 490-93.
152. Piso as the owner of the Villa of the Papyri has been the traditional hypothesis for two
centuries. H. Bloch's article (supra, n. 146) was basic in the modern era; a short summary of the
controversy with bibliography in J.D'Arms, Romans on theBay of Naples: A Social and Cultural
Study of the Villas and Their Owners from 150 B.C. toA.D. 400 (Cambridge, 1970) catalogue I, no.
5. A new hypothesis has been advanced with the recent renewed study of the villa in M. R. Wojcik,
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290 CLASSICALNTIOUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
patron to a dinner in honor of their master Epicurus influenced an invitation sent
by Horace to Maecenas (Carm. 1.20).153 Horace was said to have dedicated his
Ars Poetica to Caesoninus's son L. Pisoand L.
Piso'stwo
sons. The son, L.Calpurnius Piso pontifex, continued the traditionof his house innot onlymain
taining relationswith Philodemus after his father'sdeath, but also with the circle
of Roman poets who had studied under Philodemus. The villa remained in the
hands of the Pisones after Caesoninus's death. L. Piso had a brilliant career,
which culminated in the consulship of 15 B.C.;154he too seems to have served, as
his father before him, as governor of Macedonia.l55
The sanctuary's appeal to Romans of various classes is usually explained by
the
widespread
belief
among
Romans of the ancient correlationsbetween Samo
thracian and Roman religion, and the versions of the legend of Aeneas that
associated the hero and Rome with Samothrace.156 A version of the wanderings
of Aeneas seems to have originated, in Latin literature at least, with the annalist
L. Cassius Hemina, who, writing in the middle of the second century B.C., said
that Aeneas had brought the Penates to Rome from Samothrace, not Troy.L57
Varro modified Hemina's version by introducing the tradition into the story of
Dardanos's taking the Penates from Samothrace to Troy.158 Servius In Ae
neidem, quoting Varro and Cassius Hemina, had much to say about the tradition
of Aeneas bringing the Penates from Samothrace and the Roman identification
of the Penates with the Great Gods.159 Varro had said that the Penates and the
Great Gods are "one and the same" (In Aen. 3.12).160 Therefore the Samothra
cians are said to be the kinsmen (cognoti) of the Romans (In Aen. 3.12).161 In the
Aeneid (3.28.8), whereas Vergil himself did not haveAeneas stopping at Samo
La Villa dei Papiri ad Ercolano: Contributo alla ricostruzione dell'ideologia della nobilitas tardo
republicana (Rome, 1986); discussion of the controversy in reviews by B. Conticello and C. Cicirelli
inRStPomp 2 (1988) 279-83; E. Leach, AJA 92 (1988) 145-46.
153. Bloch (supra, n. 146) 490, 493.154. For references to the Pisones during the Late Republic and earlyPrincipate, seeR. Syme,
The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1983), index s.v. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, L. (cos. 58 B.C.).L.
Piso as consular seems to have vanished from the record after 44 B.C. (p. 197). L. Piso the son (cos. 15
B.C.)held an eminent ifneutral position in thePrincipate (p. 424).155. T. Sarikakis, "L.Calpurnius Piso Pontifex:A Disputed Governor ofMacedonia," Ancient
Macedonian Studies inHonor of Charles F. Edson (Thessaloniki, 1981) 307-14.
156. Bloch (supra, n. 146) 488-89; Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 16-17; see section E: "Roman
Traditions and Syncretisms," inLewis, Samothrace 1, nos. 172-92.
157. The story of Aeneas's wanderings in Thrace is considerably earlier and probably dates
back to Hellanikos (Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 16 nn. 67, 69). Hellanikos is the earliest source for the
foundation myth of Troy and the story that Dardanos, legendary founder of Dardania in the Troad
and the ancestor of Priam andHektor, came originally fromSamothrace (Cole [supra, n. 82] 100).158. Fraser, Samothrace 2,1, 16 n. 68. The6roi of the Dardanians appear together with Roman
symmystae in inscriptions twice (Bloch [supra, n. 146]489 n. 19).159. Lewis, Samothrace 1, nos. 179, 180, 181, 182a, 183, 184, 289, 192, 241.
160. Servius, preferring the tradition that the Penates came from (Lauro)Lavinium, denied
this. On Servius's tradition as the result of a later "distortion" of Varro's "idiosyncratic" interpreta
tion of the Samothracian Theoi Megaloi, see Cole (supra, n. 82) 101-3.
161. Lewis, Samothrace, 1, n. 179.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 291
thrace, Aeneas dedicated the arms taken from the victorious Danaans and fixed
a shield on the entrance pillars to the Temple of Apollo at Actium. Servius (In
Aen. 3.287) added the fact that this shield was dedicated by Aeneas in thesanctuary at Samothrace, thereby implying thatAeneas had stopped at Samo
thrace on his journey fromTroy to Italy.162t is not known who actually invented
this version of the myth, but it is not difficult to understand how such a tradition
developed, given the fame of the Samothracian cult and its location on the sea
routes, and Roman interest inSamothrace.Dionysius ofHalicarnassus reported
(Ant. Rom. 1.50.4) that Aeneas and his Trojans established "at Actium a sanctu
ary of Aphrodite Aeneias and near it a sanctuary of Great Gods, which have
remained inexistence down to
my
time."Modern scholars have
generally
inter
preted this as a reference to the Samothracian gods.163
The association of Samothrace with Actium and Apollo was only one step in
an intricate interweavingof Samothracian religion, Trojan origins, andApollonian propaganda inAugustan religious politics. This progressionwas a complexone and cannot be discussed here, but it is worth noting barbarian Cybele's
prominent place in the new Palatine topography andAugustan ideology. The
House of Augustus was built on the Palatine between the new Temple of Apollo
and the older temple of Magna Deum Mater Idaea, which Augustus had re
built.164 An aristocratic Claudian, according to the Augustan tradition, had es
corted the Great Mother to the city of Rome; a freedwoman of the empress was
chosen as priestess of Cybele, and Livia herself was later to be depicted as
Cybele afterAugustus's death.165Vergil (Aen. 10.220) gaveCybele theVenusian
epithet of alma, andOvid (Met. 14.531-64) incorporatedCybele into theTrojan
saga as the "benign" mother who saved Aeneas and his pinewood ships from
Turnus. The wall painting of the House of Augustus indeed made reference to
the goddess and her proximity. The so-called Room of the Garlands featured
branches of pine around the walls.166 While garlands are a usual feature of
Roman wall painting of the second style, pine ones are rarer. The pine was
especially sacred to Cybele, and her March festival included the bringing of a
162. Ibid. no. 241b;Cole (supra, n. 82) 101.
163. Lewis, Samothrace, 1, no. 241b.
164. The older temple, erected in 205 B.C. at the command of the Sibylline Books, burned
down in A.D. 3. The reconstruction received specialmention in the Res Gestae (19).165. Ovid (Fasti 4.291-348) and Livy 29.14.12: "matronaeprimores civitatis inter quas unius
Claudiae Quintae"; CIL VI 496: ONESIMVS OLYMPIAS/LIVIA BRISEIS AUG. LIB. SAC./
M.D.M.I.; F. Bomer, "Kybele inRom: Die Geschichte ihresKult alspolitisches Phinomen," RM 71
(1964) 130-51, esp. the appendix "Claudia quinta"; on the Capitoline relief, 146-51; D. Porte,"Claudia Quinta et le problem de la lavatio de Cybele en 204 J.-C.," Klio 66 (1984) 93-103; M.
Bieber, The Statueof Cybele in theJ. Paul GettyMuseum, Museum Publication no. 3 (Malibu, 1968)
figs. 2-6, 13. Sardonyx cameo with Livia with the attributes of Cybele holding the bust of Divus
Augustus is also illustrated in E. Simon, Augustus: Kunst und Leben in Rom um die Zeitenwende
(Munich, 1986) fig. 211.
166. G. Carettoni, BdA 46 (1961) figs. 1-3; "La decorazione pittorica della casa diAugusto sul
Palatino," RM 90 (1983) color pl. 2,2.
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292 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
tree to her temple on the Palatine. Cybele, accompanied by a corybant, is
depicted in sculpture on the Sorrentine base among the chief divinities of the
Palatine and the Houseof
Augustus.167It is not impossible thatAugustus himself visited Samothrace, nor is there
any intrinsic reasonwhy he should not have been an initiate, although nothing is
heard of either supposition. The survivors of Philippi had fled to Samothrace
(Cornelius Nepos, Atticus 11.2), andAugustus made a number of trips to the
East when he would have had occasion to visit, as numbers of other Romans had
done whether from Macedonia or on other trips along the sea route from the
Troad to Thrace and Macedonia.168 Augustus's interest in religious matters is
well known; he was initiated in at least one other Mystery cult, that of Eleusis,
twice, both times at least in part for political reasons.169 Earlier Sulla and proba
bly Antony had also been initiated into theEleusinianMysteries (Plut. Sulla 26;
Anton. 23).170 The two Mystery cults of Eleusis and Samothrace were compared
in antiquity, and some men seem to have been initiates of both.171 Germanicus in
A.D. 18 had attempted to visit Samothrace with the specific object of "sacra
Samothracum visere," according to Tacitus (Ann. 2.54), but had not been able to
land because of the winds. Hadrian later, sailing by way of Asia and the islands
to Greece, visited Samothrace and may have participated in the rites.'72 He is
known to have been an initiate of the Eleusinian Mysteries; in this he followed
the example of Heracles and Philip, according to the ScriptoresHistoriae Au
gustae (Had. 13.1).But ifAugustus did not visit Samothrace, other Romans did, and any num
ber of government officials, military personnel, or businessmen could have
brought back detailed descriptions of the Arsinoeion even if a Piso would seem
the likeliest source. As unique a monument as it was, in size, in shape, and in
167. G. Rizzo, "La base di Augusto," BullCom 60 (1932) 92-100, pl. 5;M. Guarducci, "Enea e
Vesta," RM 78 (1971) pls. 67, 68.
168. G. Bowersock ("AugustusonAegina," CQ 58 [1964]120-21) gave an account of Augustus's trips to the East.
169. Augustus was initiated first as mystes in 31 B.C. (Cass. Dio 51.4.1), seemingly as part of his
propagandistic program againstAntony's portrayalof himself as a newHeracles and a newDionysus
(D. Kienast, Augustus: Prinzeps undMonarch [Darmstadt, 1982] 375 n. 34). Augustus was initiated
for the second time, when he probably became an Epoptes (second degree) in 19 B.C. (Cass.Dio
54.9.10), on his return trip to the East when he stopped at Athens on the way home. The two
dedications reported byDio were unusual and have been variously explained. R. Bernhardt ("Ath
ens, Augustusund die eleusinischen
Mysterien,"AM 90
[1975]233-37)saw itas
partof the
problemof the relationship of Augustus and Athens. A review of the problem is found in K. Clinton, "The
Eleusinian Mysteries: Roman Initiates and Benefactors, Second Century B.C. to A.D. 267," ANRW 18
(1989) 1499-1538, esp. 1507-9 onAugustus.170. Kienast (supra, n. 169) 375 n. 34; compareBernhardt (supra, n. 169) 236.
171. Lewis, Samothrace 1, nos. 205-8; Cole (supra, n. 82) 25, 92. Appian (Mithr. 63) said that
Sulla was staying at Samothrace at the time of a pirate raid in 84 B.C. Later that same year he was
initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, according to Plutarch (Sull. 26). It ispossible that he was
initiated at Samothrace as well (Cole 82).
172. Cole (supra, n. 82: 100) shows that the evidence for this is slim.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 293
sitingwithin the sanctuary, itwas undoubtedly widely known. M. L. Thompsonhas suggested that a Pompeian painter even used the round domed building in a
landscape paintingin the tricliniumof theCasa del Orfeo to
identifythe site of
Samothrace for a Roman patron who wished to commemorate his own initiation
at Samothrace bymeans of aparticularpainting program.173hompson hypothesized that the Arsinoeion may have come to be a symbol of the sacred site of the
Mysteries. She thought the painting in the Casa del Orfeo may have illustrated
the storyof Kadmos and Harmonia.74 K. Lehmann had noticed theparallelwith
the historical romance of Philip ofMacedon and Olympias and believed that
Olympias might therefore have had a part in the dedication of the temenos.175
Thompson went on to suggest that a painting program associated with the Samo
thracianMysteries was a creation of theHellenistic period handed down throughtraditionalpattern books. A painter such asApelles, who, as the courtpainter of
Alexander the Great, was closely associated not only with Alexander but with
his Ptolemaic successors, also patrons of the Samothracian sanctuary,might have
commissioned such a program for a building of the sanctuary like the temenos.
Apelles did compose two sets of pendant paintings of political and religious
character, one honoringAlexander. Augustus himself had dedicated two paint
ings of Apelles with Alexander as subject in his forum (Pliny,NH 25.10.27,
36.93-94); one of the panels representedAlexander with theDioscuri and theother his triumph.The panels were originally intended for Ptolemy I andwere
brought to Rome from Alexandria by Augustus.176The existence of another
Hellenistic painting cycle involving royalMacedonian personages, historical or
allegorical, has also been suggested as a prototype for thepaintings of theOecus
of the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale.177 The allusions here to Alexan
der coincidewith the political claimsmade by the generals of theLate Republicsuch as Pompey around the time of thewall painting (50-40 B.C.).W. Kovac
sovics has even assumed that wall painting was one factor in the dissemination of
prototypes forRoman tombs.178
At this point the hypothesis proposed in this studymay be summarized
namely, that the Arsinoeion of Samothrace may well have been a leading building
173. M. L. Thompson, "A Pompeian Painting of a SamothracianMyth?" Essays inMemory ofKarl Lehmann (NewYork, 1964) 329-43.
174. Thompson (supra, n. 173) 339 for the relation of thepainting and itspendant ina programmatic context in thisPompeian house.
175.Thompson (supra,
n.173)
342-43, nn.40,
41.
176. E. Schwarzenberg, "The Portraiture ofAlexander," Alexandre leGrand: Image et reality,Entretiens sur l'Antiquit6 Classique (Geneva, 1975) 256-60. For the position of these paintings in
the forum and their relationship to other Alexander references, seeMarrone (supra, n. 54) 35-41;
Menichetti (supra, n. 54) 575-83 n. 27 with bibliography.177. K. Fittschen, "ZumFigurenfries der Villa von Boscoreale," Neue Forschungen inPompeji
und den anderen vom Vesuvausbruch 79 n.Chr. vershuttetenStadten (Recklinghausen, 1975) 93-100
with bibliography; B. Andreae, "Wandmalerei augusteischer Zeit," Kaiser Augustus und die
verloreneRepublik (Mainz, 1988) 282, cat. no. 130 (reconstructionof theOecus).178. Kovacsovics (supra, n. 16) 21.
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294 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
in the design of the Mausoleum of Augustus as a dynastic monument, given this
series of factors: (1) the fame that the Arsinoeion must have had in the ancient
world as a unicum of architecture, the largestroundbuilding of theperiod; (2) theimportant role the Arsinoeion played in the Samothracian cult and the relation of
these rituals to its round form; (3) the conspicuous place thatSamothrace occu
pied in the Late Republic, given thepopularityof theMysteries invarious levels of
Roman society and the corresponding correlationmade between Samothracian
and Roman religion and legend, in particular that of Aeneas and the Penates; (4)
the importanceof theMacedonian and Ptolemaic rulers for the development of
the architecture on Samothrace and the precedent these rulers set for the Roman
ruler cult initiated by Augustus; and (5) the influence of Alexander and the
Macedonian involvement at Samothrace onAugustus.In the last section it is necessary tomention briefly other buildings that
belong to the Arsinoeion's type. The Arsinoeion, as mentioned above, is a
thymele. There is, then, a strong connection between the Arsinoeion as a
thymele and the group of circular buildings and temples known as tholoi. F.
Robert made the classic study of the relation between thymelai and tholoi.179 At
the heart of Robert's study was the problem of the function of the labyrinthine
crypt beneath the circular building known as the thymele in the Sanctuary of
Asclepius at Epidaurus (Fig. 4). According to Pausanias (2.27.3), this round
building was called a tholos, but the preserved fourth-century construction ac
counts use the term thumela.180 Evidently by Pausanias's time the meaning of
thymelewas no longerunderstood, and the circularbuildingwas known only byits generic term, tholos. While the time and trouble taken for the construction of
the architecture, with its rich ornament and its position at the heart of the
sanctuary near the abaton and the temple, bear witness to the great importance
of the thymele for the cult of Asclepius, it has been more difficult to determine
exactly what aspect of the cult it served. Most scholars seem to agree that the
extraordinary arrangement of the inner foundations suggests a special cultic
function, but the exact nature of this is still debated.181
At the tholos of Epidaurus an opening in the floor gave access to the founda
tions, which consist of six concentric rings forming a maze (Fig. 5).82
Only the
179. Thymele: Recherches sur la signification et la destination desmonuments circulaire dans
architecture religieusede la Grece (Paris, 1939); a review of his book by L. B. Holland inAJA 52
(1948) 307-10, and a recent critique in Seiler (supra, n. 106) 2-3.
180. IG IV.12 103, lines 125, 162, cited inRobert (supra, n. 179) 259;A. Burford, TheGreek
Temple Builders atEpidaurus (Liverpool, 1969) 63 n. 63, account nos. VI 125 and 162 for the term
thumela or thymela (Burford's transliteration and spelling).181. A convenient summary of the debate and older references are given in Burford (supra, n.
180) 65-68, and Seiler (supra, n. 106) 85 n. 338.
182. For the construction date and debate as to whether all six rings belong to one building
phase, compare N. Yalouris, "Epidauros," PECS 312;Robert (supra, n. 179) 298-304; G. Roux,
L'architecture de l'Argolide aux IVe et IIIe siecles avant J.-C. (Paris, 1961) 134. A. Tomlinson
(Epidauros [London, 1983] 61)most recently has stated that "there isno doubt thatdespite suggestions to the contrary, all six rings belong to one and the same building period."
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 295
three interiorwalls have openings,which lead into three annularcorridors, each of
which contained a partition runningcrosswise, closing off thepassageway inone
direction.183In order toget
from the outerring
to thecenter,
one was forced to
walk thewhole circuit of each passageway and reverse direction in thenext, or to
make, in other words, a complete turn around the circular space at the center.
According to F. Robert and G. Roux, the center contained the bothros, the
chthonic altar forbloody sacrifices.184 thymele, then,was abuilding forchthonic
sacrificesmade at a bothros. There was probably access to the crypt through a
wooden staircaseor a ladder, although theplacement has been contested.185
The Greeks who built the labyrinthinecrypt under the tholos of Epidauruswere probably aware of thewell-known myth of Theseus and theMinotaur and
the tradition of the Cretan labyrinth.The Epidaurian labyrinthwith its annular
corridors is similar to some of the representationsof the labyrinthofKnossos on
ancient coins.186Robert thought that the architect of the Epidaurian thymelewould have also known of the geranos danced on the occasion of the Delia at
Delos, sacred toApollo.'87 According to Plutarch (Thes. 21), thisdance, which
imitated the turns and detours of the labyrinth,was brought toDelos byTheseus
on his return fromCrete. On the FranqoisVase, Theseus leads the dance with
the chorus of Athenian boys and girls whom he rescued from the Minotaur.188
Lucian (De Saltatione 49) gave a listof Cretan dances by the names of Labyrin
thos, Tauros, Daidalos, Ariadne, etc. and indicated that there were probablyseveral types or names, which supposedly imitated the twists and turnsof the
Cretan labyrinth.The dance, performed in an interlacingchain, was quite cur
rent in ancient Greek cult, and representations are found early inGeometric and
Archaic art.189 Its exact disposition could vary; more often it was composed
exclusively of women, but sometimes men were included. This general type of
183. Yalouris (supra, n. 182) 312;Windfeld-Hansen (supra,n. 1) 59; the fullestdescription andthe best plan of the crypt and illustrations of the annular corridors are in Roux (supra, n. 182) 132-36
pls. 37, 40.
184. Robert (supra, n. 179) 159-60, 179-80, 259-68, 339 fig. 14, 350 fig. 17;Roux (supra, n.
182)135-36.
185. Robert (supra, n. 179) 347-53; Roux (supra, n. 182) 136, 194 n. 4; Tomlinson (supra, n.
182)61; Seiler (supra, n. 106) 85 n. 334.
186. Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 59-60; Robert (supra, n. 179) 306.
187. Robert (supra, n. 179) 313-15.
188. The interpretation of the frieze on the neck of the Franqois Vase has long been debated. F.
Johansen in his monograph on this scene, Thesee et la dance t Delos (Copenhagen, 1945), tried to
separate the victory dance celebrating Theseus's andAriadne's rescue of theAthenian youths fromthe Minotaur on Crete from the Delian geranos or "crane" dance. According to Johansen, the two
dances had not yet in the time of Kleitias, the painter, been associated. E. Simon (Die griechischen
Vasen [Munich, 1976]72-73 pls. 52, 54, fig. 2) notably has argued the alternative view that the vase
portrayed the rescued Athenians performing the geranos on Delos. Recently H. A. Shapiro has
questioned whether the "nearly stationary" movement on the vase is in fact a dance at all (Art and
Cult inAthens [Mainz, 1989] 146 pl. 66a with a summary of the older argument and bibliography and
his new reading).189. Johansen (supra, n. 188: 13-44) gave examples and illustrationsdepictingTheseus and the
victory dance; see the references given above forpossible Samothracian dances and theirprototypes.
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296 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
dance was also known in Italy, in Etruria, and inMagna Graecia, as the rare
hydria of Polledrara and the unique wall painting from a tomb at Ruvo inApulia
certify.190While this
typeof dance was not in itself a
funerary one,it assumed
such a character at Ruvo, where the chorus is understood as specifically
circumambulating the body of the deceased.191Robert had compared the significance of the ritual course around the corridor at Epidaurus both to the legendary
Cretan dance and to the Italian equestrian maneuver.'92 Since the thymele at
Epidaurus was devoted toAsclepius as dead hero and god, he supposed that the
worshippers made the rounds of the circularpassages in the cryptbefore arrivingat the center to make the funerary and chthonic sacrifices at the bothros.
The rituals of circumambulation and the rites of purification and lustration
connected with the magic of the circle and circular movement have long been
known to have played an important role inGreco-Roman religion. Among the
Greeks the thymele of course was not only a circular building housing a chthonic
altar but the center of the theater orchestra or circular dancing place for the
chorus, where dances of cultic origin and dramatic performances toDionysuswere performed.193Circularmovement was considered by theRomans to have a
cathartic effect and was used in annual festivals such as the Ambarvalia,
Ambilustra, and Amburbia.194 The purification of an altar before a sacrifice was
of great importance to both Greeks and Romans. Romans practiced the lustratio
making one or more, often three, turns around the altar where the rite took
place.
190. The six panels from Ruvo are now in the Museo Nazionale at Naples, and the hydria of
Polledrara is in theBritishMuseum. This writer appreciates the reminderof the Ruvo painting byone of the readers of her article. The date of the painting has been lowered to the second half of the
fourth century B.C. by F. Tine Bertocchi in "Le danzatrici della tomba di Ruvo," RivlstArch 11
(1963) 9-27; La pittura funeraria apula (Naples, 1964) 33-50. A particular form of the chain dance
known as the "tratta" is the type depicted on the hydria of Polledrara and on the Ruvo walls
(Johansen [supra, n. 188] 30-40 figs. 15, 17;Bertocchi 13).While the dance scene on the Etruscan
hydria (dated to the last decades of the sixth century B.C.) is said to be Theseus's victory dance and
has been identified as a prototype of the Ruvo painting by M. Johnstone (TheDance inEtruria
[Florence, 1956] 51-56, cited byBertocchi 12, 20) and Bertocchi herself (13) thought itwas possiblethat the choral dance of Ruvo would be a "local expression" of the mythical dance of Theseus, she
found Maiuri's definition of a "threnos" of women surrounding the dead in the ritual moment known
as "prothesis"more convincing (A.Maiuri, Roman Painting [Geneva, 1953] 15, 17-18). Bertocchi
noted that the depiction of a funerary use of this type of dance was an "unicum" in Greek painting; it
was particularly significant that itwas not found on Apulian or southern Italian vases.
191. In addition to the fact that the frieze was found to extend around the walls of the tomb, an
old watercolor depicts the frieze as surrounding the open grave, which contains skeleton and vessels
(Bertocchi [supra,n. 190]21-23 fig. 19).Although thedrawing cannot be dated precisely, Bertocchi
thought it had probably been done prior to 1833, the year of excavation, when the tomb was found
already robbed of its contents.
192. Robert (supra, n. 179) 319.
193. The concrete thymele seems to have been the low sacrificial platform or altar in the center
of the orchestra; the term was probably expanded to the circle of the orchestra itself (M. Bieber, The
History of the Greek and Roman Theater [Princeton, 1961] 14, 54, 126 fig. 224).
194.Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 59 nn. 3,6.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 297
But the ceremonies of circumambulationwere best known for their use in
the cult of the dead, where they had both a purificatory and an apotropaic
character. The chain dance around the tomb in the exceptional wall painting atRuvo was mentioned above. The literary sources above all give us famous exam
ples of these rituals.195 hen Odysseus (Od. 11.26-28) sacrificed to the dead in
theNekyia he began by making three libations,which he poured around the
trench. InHomer's description of the funeral of Patroclus atTroy (II.23.12-14),Achilles and theMyrmidons made three turns on horseback around the body of
Patroclus. Statius (Theb. 6.215) in describing the funeral of Archemoros at
Nemea was quite precise about the lustration.After the chthonic libations have
been
poured,
the
Argives
turned three times ex sinistro orbe around the funeral
pyre and then reversed and did three turns to the right. Plutarch (Alex. 15)described an occasion that showed that this typeof ceremonywas adopted by the
Macedonians. Indeed it may have been one that served as a precedent for
Augustus in the design of his tomb. When Alexander the Great visited the
tumulus of Achilles near Troy, he and his companions poured a libationof oil
over the hero's funerary stele and then ran nude around the tumulus. This type
of ceremony was continued by the Romans and was later depicted in Roman
relief on the well-known base of the Column of Antoninus Pius.196 In the Roman
military decursio, soldiers paraded around the funerarypyre of the dead chief
and later the rogus of the emperors. The horseman rode in one direction and
then reversed.
The decursio was probably related to the Roman equestrian dance called
Troiae lusus, which also recalled the Cretan and Greek dances mentioned ear
lier. Vergil (Aen. 5.545-603) gave a full description of a Troiae lusus in his
account of the funerary rites in honor of Anchises.197 After pouring libations on
the tumulus of Anchises, Aeneas and his companions invoked the huge snake
from the depths, which made seven turns around the tomb and altars. As part of
his reorganization of the Equites, Augustus had supervised the iuventus, espe
cially after Caius and Lucius Caesar were appointed as principes iuventutis, and it
was in this context that Augustus revived the Troiae lusus for boys of high
rank.198 Vergil and Horace had already celebrated these games and their origins
as part of the Augustan propaganda.199 According to Suetonius (Aug. 43.2),
Augustus gave up these vigorous performances only when one toomany acci
dents caused complaint in the Senate. These "Trojan" traditions of tumuli and
gameswere influential forAugustan ideology, and although thiswriter believesthat the Mausoleum of Augustus cannot be regarded primarily as a "conscious
195. Robert (supra, n. 179) 22, 320-21; Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 60.
196. L. Vogel, The Column ofAntoninus Pius (Cambridge, 1973) pls. 9-15.
197. Robert (supra, n. 179) 317-18, 177-78.
198. J.-P. Neraudau, La jeunesse dans la literature et les institutions de la Rome republicaine
(Paris, 1979) 227-34.
199. Kienast (supra, n. 169) 154 n. 114with literarysources.
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298 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
revival" of a Trojan tradition, such customs were always of great importance for
Augustus, asR. Holloway pointed out earlier.200
H. Windfeld-Hansen has been theonly
scholar to stressadequately
the
importanceof the annularpassages of theMausoleum ofAugustus.201Accordingto him, it isprincipally in Italy thatmausolea with annular corridors are found,
and they nearly all date to the Empire.202 The Mausoleum of Augustus is the
only mausoleum extantwith two annular corridors.203 he likeliestprecedent in
Italy for these annular corridors was the tholos of the Sanctuary of Fortuna
Primigenia at Praeneste.204 This tholos was formed of two concentric walls
around a circular hall with an annular corridor between the two walls.205 The
tholos of the sanctuary at Praeneste was the aedes Fortunae, which held the
famous gilded statue of the oracular goddess described by Pliny (NH 33.19.61)and the area of the sortilege.206 As the earliest tholos built in Italy it was an
importantprecedent for the Roman tholoi.
The purpose of the Roman funerary annular corridors was a ritual one; they
served the rites of circumambulation of a lustral character used in the cult of the
dead.207 The function of the two concentric passages of the Mausoleum of Augus
tus (c and d of Fig. 1) ismade clear by the actual structure of the tomb. The annular
corridorswere used for ritualprocessions because the dromos (e inFig. 1)does not
lead directly to the sepulchral chamber (b inFig. 1), as it does inmost of the other
round Roman mausolea, but ends in front of the second circular wall (2 in Fig. 1).
"The visitor to the tomb is then forced to enter into the outer corridor in place of
passing through one of the two narrow doors cut in the second circular wall to the
left and to the right of the place where the dromos empties into the corridor. Thus
the visitor is forced to traverse the length of the exterior passage and thus in this
way to make a complete turn around the sepulchral chamber. The same thing
happens when he arrives into the interior passageway by one of the two doors
mentioned above. It is only then after having made the circuit of the sepulchralchamber twice that he can pass through the door opening into the first wall and
thus arrive into the [sepulchralchamber]."208
200. Holloway (supra, n. 9) 171-73. I am grateful to Ross Holloway for having read an earlier
version of thispaper and for his criticism and practical suggestions.He isnot tobe held responsibleof
course for the positions advanced here.
201. Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1).202. Ibid. 35. Outside of Italy the only three funerarymonuments with an annular corridor
known areNumidian ones inAlgeria (50-51).203. The Roman mausolea of the empire have only one corridor (ibid. 39-41).204. Windfeld-Hansen (ibid. 57) cited the rotunda of Fortuna and a large cistern near Lake
Bracciano as the nonfuneraryRepublican structures formed with two concentric walls.
205. Windfeld-Hansen (ibid. 57 nn. 2, 3) cited the differences in opinion as to the exact
construction of this "rotunda";more recentlyH. Riemann, ("PraenestinaeSorores," RM 95 [1988165 n. 169) included a note on the current interpretationsand bibliography.
206. Riemann (supra, n. 205) 65.
207. Windfeld-Hansen (supra, n. 1) 58, for earlier references.
208. Ibid. 62-63.
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 299
The thymele of Epidaurus is the only tholos, or circularGreek buildingwith
a subterranean labyrinthformed of circularpassages, thathad a cultic function.
Robert had earlier pointed out the funerary character of the cult of Asclepius,mortal hero and god, as well as the chthonic character of the thymele.209 The
tholos was a place of heroic cult celebrated in the labyrinth at the bothros after a
triple lustration of the annular passages. G. Roux, after asking two additional
questions-(1) why itwas necessary to construct the chthonic altarundergroundin the thymele, and (2) why such a sumptuous building was necessary for a
simple bothros-concluded that the tholos was the "fictive tomb" of Ascle
pius.210R. A. Tomlinson likewise came to the conclusion that the likeliest func
tion of the labyrinthine foundations of the thymelewas a ritual one connected
with the particular forms of sacrifice to the heroic dead.211While Asclepius was
honored as a god mainly in the temple with his cult statue, the thymele reflected
chiefly the heroic aspect. Its conical roof rose like a tumulus over a burial
chamber.
The tholos of Epidaurus offers the most likelyGreek precedent for the
annular corridors of theMausoleum of Augustus. Furthermore, the tholos, the
second architectural order of theMausoleum, was placed atop the tumulus
tomb with its three inner circular walls and two annular passages around a cella
in the same manner as the splendid cella of the tholos-thymele at Epidauruswas placed above the labyrinthine crypt with its three concentric walls and
annular corridors. Or the tholos as a funerary temple of the Mausoleum and at
Epidaurus was placed above a system of circular walls and annular corridors
that contained at the center a sepulchral chamber in the Mausoleum and a
bothros at Epidaurus, which came to symbolize the tomb of Asclepius. More
over, not only tholos and thymele but also tholos and tumulus were understood
by the Greeks to be related. It is generally admitted that the oldest common
type of Greek tomb, the tumulus,may have been inspired by theMyceneantholos and its mound.212
It would have been important for the architects of the Mausoleum of Augus
tus to have Greek prototypes. The Augustan preference for the neoclassical stylein art and architecture is well known and has been exemplified in the Campus
Martius in the Ara Pacis.213 The fact that Greek tholoi furnished the precedent
for the round temple as the second architectural order of theMausoleum would
209. Robert(supra,
n.179)
327, 337.
210. Roux (supra, n. 182) 190-94. Roux emphasized the literary examples of funerarylustrationwith three courses in particular.Moreover, the particular ornament, phialaiwith twelve
cavities on the exteriormetopies, and the plants and flowerson the ceiling-the acanthus and poppy
capsule-were of a symbolic funerarycharacter (Roux 195-96 pl. nos. 52, 1, 3).211. Tomlinson (supra, n. 182) 66, 57.
212. Some of the Bronze Age circular tombs known as tholoi were accessible in later periods
(Lawrence [supra, n. 106] 239).213. A. Borbein, "DieAra Pacis Augustae: Geschichtliche Wirklichkeit und Programm," JdI
90 (1975) 242-66.
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300 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
have doubled the exemplary force of the famous tholos-thymele at Epidaurus.The supposition that lustralrites and dances took place in the circular spaces of
both thetholos-thymele
ofEpidaurus
and of theArsinoeion of Samothrace
emphasizes the symbolic importanceof these roundcult buildings for theMauso
leum, a tomb, and therefore a building normally considered to belong to the
category of funerary monuments rather than to cultic ones. But as J.-C. Richard
has pointed out, the mausolea came to play a role in the cult of the divi.214 Dio
Cassius as a rule used the term mnemeion or mnema for the tombs of Augustus
and of Hadrian and reserved the term heroon for a sanctuary whose erection
followed the consecratio of an emperor.215 But Dio Cassius reported that the text
of the Res Gestae that Augustus had engraved on bronze stelai was put up pros to
heroon, that is, as is known, before the Mausoleum. Likewise Dio Cassius
(63.26.5) used the term toAugousteion todesignate both theMausoleum and the
Temple of the Divinized Augustus.216The Mausoleum of Augustus, then, was
not merely a funerary monument but a cultic one as well. It served as an Au
gusteum or temple for the living ruler and later for a daily sacrifice to the divus
Augustus.217Thus sacrificial libationswere probably poured both to chthonic
powers in this Greco-Roman custom and to the dead emperor as a deified hero
in a heroin, and in particular in the manner of those toAlexander in the Sema at
Alexandria. It is even possible that sacrifices or libations took place at the
Mausoleum while Augustus was still alive.218
But if in Dio Cassius's terms the Mausoleum of Augustus, a round dynastic
monument, was also a her6on or anAugousteion, the chief prototype found
among the group of famous Greek tholoi was the Philippeion of Olympia. At the
very heart of theMausoleum was the center pillar, which, while itmay have
owed its structure in part to similar pillars in Etruscan tombs, supported on the
Roman Mausoleum an epithema, which was the monumental statue of Augustus,
usually said to be a statua loricata. The Roman cuirassed statue had Hellenistic
214. J.-C. Richard, "Les funerailles des empereurs romains aux deux premiers siecles de notre
&re,"Klio 62 (1980) 467-69.
215. Richard (supra, n. 10) 374 n. 1, and Richard (supra, n. 214) 468, for a list of the passages
inDio Cassius.
216. Richard (supra, n. 214) 468 n. 1.
217. Richard (supra, n. 214: 469) spoke of the mausoleum's resembling a temple in that itwas
the "theater" of a daily sacrifice to the divus of Augustus.
218. In 30 B.C., immediately afterAugustus's triumphalreturn fromEgypt, theRoman Senate
issued a consultum that ordered a libation be poured to the Genius Augusti at banquets. D. Thomp
son (supra, n. 97: 122-24 nn. 1, 2, 4) pointed out the Ptolemaic origin of the libation bowls used in
the practice inaugurated by this decree as well as those used during festivals in which citizens pledged
their loyalty to the emperor in public vows. The new-year date, on which important vota publica were
given, was shifted in the early days of Augustus to the time of the spring festival of Isis. Coins related
to the new-year festival in Rome show Serapis and Isis as the presiding deities. F. Coarelli (supra, n.
32: 790-91) has pointed out that the coherentAugustan constructionprogram in theCampusMartius
with itsEgyptian references included the templeof Isis joining theSaepta. The votapublica and their
sacrificial libations were also offered on occasions other than the new year, such as the victorious
returnof Augustus from his campaigns.
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REEDER:heMausoleum of Augustus 301
prototypes based on Alexander theGreat;219therefore the topmost element as
well as the tomb itselfwas probably influencedbyAlexander's precedent. The
Philippeion was essentially built, as Pausanias tells it (5.20.9-10), to contain thestatues of theMacedonian royal family. The statues were placed on a curved
base in the interior of the circular cella.220 he Philippeion was begun by Philip II
after the fall of Greece at Chaeroneia in 338 B.C. (Paus. 5.20.9-10) and was
finished byAlexander, since Philip died two years later in 336 B.C.Alexander's
statuemay in fact have stood as the center of the group.221 lthough themonu
ment could doubtless fall into the conventional class of politically and religiouslymotivated anathemata offered by the Greek cities or by single rulers in
panhellenic sanctuaries as thanks for a
victory,
the
Philippeion "consciously
and
provocatively distanced itself" from the Greek norms as a closed peripteral
building distinguished asmuch by its rare and rich architectural forms as by the
chryselephantine statue group.222The Philippeion had been placed by Philip inproximity to thePelopeion and
to the prytaneion and the Heraion.223Robert had thought that the idea that
determined both the architectural type, a heroin, and the placement of the
Philippeion was the notion of the "perpetuity"of "an exceptional royal race"
tied to an old architectural form, the tholos,which symbolized both fertility and
the cult of the dead.224Stella G. Miller suggested thatPhilip's placement of the
tholos next to thePelopeion was done toemphasize his own and theMacedonian
tradition of royal lineage fromHeracles, a great-grandson of thehero Pelops and
the founder of theOlympic Games, according to Pausanias (5.13.2, 7.9).225The
propagandistic importance of the portrait statues and the tholos built to displaythem was not only guaranteed by their famous Athenian sculptor but by their
costly and rarematerials, gold and chryselephantine, the latterusually reserved
in the Classical period for cult statues.226 Thus the statues insinuated or pro
claimed the heroic character of theMacedonian dynasty aswell as itscontinuityand possibly its immortality. In this sense, at least, itmay be loosely character
ized as a heroin, even if the possibility exists that it was actually built as a
treasury.227 The tholos in any case was adopted for theMacedonian ruler cult by
Philip and Alexander and served as a prototype forAugustus's use of the tholos
219. K. Stemmer, Untersuchungen zur Typologie, Chronologie und Ikonographieder Panzer
statuen,DAI Archaeologische Forschungen, 4 (Berlin, 1978) 133-39.
220. S. Grobel Miller, "ThePhilippeion andMacedonian Architecture," AM 88 (1973) 191-93;
A. Borbein, "Die griechische Statue des 4. Jahrhundertsv.Chr.," Jdl 88 (1973) 66-67.221. Borbein (supra, n. 220) 66 n. 105;Seiler (supra, n. 106) 98 n. 411.
222. Seiler (supra, n. 106) 100.
223. Seiler (ibid. 90 n. 372) has a summaryof different explanations of itsplacement.224. Ibid. 404. Borbein (supra, n. 220: 66-67 n. 106) also notes that the tholos was a building
type that often served as a heroin.
225. Miller (supra, n. 220) 192; also Seiler (supra, n. 106) 100 n. 418.
226. This point is still debated; see the bibliography in Seiler (supra, n. 106) 102 nn. 426, 427.
227. Borbein (supra, n. 220) 67 n. 107with references; compare Seiler (supra, n. 106) 100 and
n. 429.
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302 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
in the imperial cult.228 Thus the two architectural forms associated here with
Alexander-tumulus of the Macedonians and of the Sema at Alexandria, and
tholos of Olympia, the Philippeion-were influential in the two architecturaltypes, tumulus and tholos, joined in theMausoleum of Augustus under the
shadow of the statua loricata that witnessed not only to the funerary heroin but
to the divinizing character of an Augusteum as well in the manner of itsMacedo
nian predecessor.A major thesis of this study has been that the circular forms of the Mauso
leum of Augustus, both tumulus and tholos,were not just amatter of typologybut of ideology and symbolic form. The tholos in particular in the Greek world
could
signify
in turn
thymele,heroin, and ruler cult, and the rituals connected
with them. While the tholoi-thymelai of Samothrace and of Epidaurus both
supplied architecturalprototypes for the round forms, the force of theprecedentwas doubled atEpidaurus, where the annularpassages of the crypt furnished an
example for those of the base of theMausoleum, just as the Greek tholos above
did for the funerary temple atop the tumulus. These buildings as thymelai also
served ritual purposes, which were probably intrinsic to their round form. It is
true that the labyrinthine form of the crypt at Epidaurus implies the rituals of
circumambulation more explicitly than the round space and uncertain floor level
of theArsinoeion assure the possibility of ritual dances there.While the annular
passages of theMausoleum undoubtedly served the rituals of circumambulation
of lustral and funerary character, and while it is reasonable to assume that
sacrificial libations were made both to the living ruler and then to the divus
Augustus at theMausoleum, both heroon andAugousteion according to Cassius
Dio, there is no proof that the Mausoleum was a thymele as the Arsinoeion and
tholos of Epidaurus were. Instead of a bothros at its center, the Mausoleum
contained a small chamber with niches for the funerary urns, and at the cella's
core the tall columnar support for the emperor's monumental statue. The tomb
was raised, moreover, not for the worship of a dead hero but early in the reign of
a living one. While there may have been an altar, possibly even a bothros,
located somewhere in theMausoleum, the interior was in ruins after the Renais
sance and the second order no longer extant.229
But there was a famous and comparable chthonic altar not too far off in the
228. Two Greek tholoi were used for the imperial cult in the Augustan period. The exact date
of the appropriationof theTholos ofAthena Pronaia atMarmaria isnot certain, butDelphi probablyinstituted a cult of the emperors there inApollo's largerprecinct in the same period as other
Augustan monuments, such as the temple of Apollo on the Palatine or the victory monument at
Actium, and as the reorganization of the amphictyony. Shortly afterActium, Augustus also erected
his own tholos (monopteros) on the Acropolis at Athens, the Temple of Roma and Augustus,
devoted to the dynastic cult.
229. The inner core of the Mausoleum with the two annular rings had been leveled and
effectively destroyed in the Renaissance when the Soderini had transformed the interior into a
garden in 1549 (P. Virgili, "A proposito del mausoleo di Augusto: Baldassare Peruzzi aveva
ragione."Archeologia Laziale 6 [1984]209-12).
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REEDER:heMausoleum ofAugustus 303
Campus Martius, the so-called Tarentum, an altar of the mundus type and a
trenchwhere sacrificeswere customarilymade toDis and Proserpina, theunder
world deitiesbrought
from southernItaly.230
ut in 17B.C.Augustus andAgrip
pa, serving as quindecemviri for the celebration of the lustralceremony of the
Ludi Saeculares,231 acrificednot to those chthonic powers but to theirheavenly
counterparts,Apollo andDiana, now radiant solar deities asHorace's Carmen
Saeculare,written specifically for theoccasion, proclaimed.Diana was inevitablyovershadowed by theApollonian propaganda afterActium, which reached to
ward a solarmonotheism. Augustus not only had twoobelisks, Egyptian "pillarsof the sun," placed before his Mausoleum, but two others were brought from
Heliopolis: one was set up in the Circus Maximus, where it served as the spina,
and the other in the Campus Martius as gnomon or sundial of the Horologium.
This obelisk read: Soli donum dedit. It was the first obelisk brought to Rome
from Egypt; the solarium in fact was one of the Augustan victory monuments, as
the inscription also stated:Aegypto inpotestatempopuli Romani redacta.232
The impact of the Augustan architecture on the Palatine and on the Campus
Martius brought with it reflections of Hellenistic dynastic ambitions and the
influence of the Ptolemaic ruler cult upon the ideology of theRepublic. While
Augustan policy was undoubtedly made in fits and starts as the emperor re
sponded to political exigencies, much seems to have been inspired and set inmotion shortly after Octavian returned from Egypt. Thus the monuments of the
Campus Martius were aligned with Hellenistic ruler cults and dynastic ambitions
early on. The Mausoleum, inspired by the tomb of Alexander and the Phi
lippeion, was begun in one part of the Campus Martius, like the Pantheon in
another.233 The Augustan architecture of the Campus Martius, then, revealed a
particular unity of symbolism and foresight from this early date. E. Buchner in
his exposition of the Horologium of Augustus showed how the solar clock itself
was tied to the birthday of Augustus under the sign of Capricorn. Moreover, the
Mausoleum and later the Ara Pacis were strictly aligned with the solarium in a
monumental complex.234 This writer has maintained that Greek prototypes were
as integral a part of the Mausoleum as they were for the Ara Pacis, although both
monuments received new content and context. That Augustus should have built
230. Reeder (supra, n. 47) 325-27 with references to the older literature.
231. For the ceremony of the Ludi Saeculares and related lustral rituals involving Diana and
these deities, see J. Poe, "The Secular Games, theAventine, and the Pomerium in theCampus
Martius," CSCA 3 (1984) 59-68.232. E. Buchner, "Solarium Augusti und Ara Pacis," RM 83 (1976) 320 pl. 109, 1 (CIL VI
602). The obelisk erected in the Circus carried the same inscription (CILVI 701).233. F. Coarelli ("IlPantheon e l'apoteosi di Romolo," Citta e architetturanella Roma impe
riale,AnalRom Suppl. 10 [Odense, 1983] 41-66) suggested (46) that theMausoleum of Alexander
was probably the Hellenistic model for the Pantheon as well as for theMausoleum of Augustus.
Nevertheless, the original Pantheon of Agrippa is thoughtprobably to have had a rectangularcella
and not a round one (W. L. MacDonald, The Pantheon: Design, Meaning, and Progeny [London.
1976]60-62).
234. Buchner (supra, n. 232) 320-65 figs. 14, 19.
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304 CLASSICALNTIQUITY Volume 11/No. 2/October 1992
his tomb at so early a date has often seemed worthy of comment. That artistic
emblems as imperial icons and architecture as symbolic form so soon elaborated
a planned totality of Hellenistic dynastic ambition and ruler cult is even moreremarkable. Or as Buchner eloquently expressed it, the symbolism enforced a
thematicunity from birth to grave.235
Providence, R.I.
235. Ibid. 365.
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REEDER Figures 1& 2
X
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:i
Fig. 1. Plan of the Mausoleum of Augustus (from Gatti
[supra, n. 33: (1934) fig. 31; letters a-e added by this author).
....'~:..........
':..-_
ii
',:".~
i'i
?.:..|
; : :s:;:
!..:oi
... .:.......".
2Gat'ig.. Pla:nf he Mausoleum of Augustus (.from Gatti 3 .
[supra,. 33: 1934)ig. ]; etters-e addedythisuthor).
': L
*: o ..:.: ~~~~~~~~?~??''.'^..'^3_*"_**l.|i
......~~'~~; i~:~"'" __M
'~ ,:~..
?,b?*:,?..:,.
.?...:,.' u.?.~~_9":........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:.a_...........................?...?.....'.:'..:'
,'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;' : '.'?
yyI || |. ... ...: . li | _c -::s -.w -si . .r
",~"~" . ~it_s
Fig.2. Gatti's reconstructionf theMausoleumofAugustus (supra,n. 33: [1938] ig.13).
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Figures 3 & 4 REEDER
0. OUX.L'ARCHUCURIISL'ARIOOMID PL
;,'.!:..'.:';:: . iinm {- thjM).?^?j.<kfri feimi t. .'
Fig. 3. The Arsinoeion at Samothrace (restoration drawing by G. Niemann in Conze
.': ffi .. .. ,..' .- ....:.: ....
ii. .
:[supra, n. 108: p. 54]).
Fig. 4. The tholos at Epidaurus (section; from Roux
[supra, n. 182: pi. 39]).
*f... ' I II:.0 *
..i~ l'3.i;':.', - . . _ | | ....,":':'.Z".::-..,;,~..
" :' .:i t;.};:!,
?..i:. 'J~ .. ...:
....
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REEDER Figures 5 & 6
G. ouX.L'mICiIlCEUBrBJIGOLEG P
0____O SO__ 5 10M
|l i?Al.kIrMaM iNrm. dr~lF<mkm?*l f I l C"-SI.dm.
Fig. 5. Plan of the crypt of the tholos at Epidaurus (from Roux
[ibid.: pl. 37]).
.P.
. :... : ..'
. . .. .*? . . . . . ............:......:.:........ .
*i i!..:. '.!
? . . :...... . . . . . .
..' ;':,'".:i.9s:: . '
Fi. . R e o s r u t o o hMsle f A u utsom (bHvHeb g
fro Z a kesIa.2f ig 5])