Neptune and the Sea: Symbolism and Imagery of the Augustan Regime
Originally dedicated by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 25 BC, the Basilica Neptuni was one of the few buildings in Rome associated with Neptune. The Basilica Neptuni may have been intended as a form of memorial to the significant naval victories in Agrippa’s own military career.
Augustus, then Octavian, launched a naval assault on Sextus Pompey in Sicily in 37 BC, ending in a defeat and the destruction of the remnants of his fleet in a great storm. The defeat damaged Augustus’s authority and provoked rioting in Rome.[1] In 36 BC, Agrippa planned a new naval invasion of Sicily and defeated Sextus Pompeius’ fleet at the Battle of Naulochus, marking the end of Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. Agrippa was awarded a corona rostrata for victory at Naulochus[2] and later the right to a special blue standard (a cerulean vexillum).[3] The victory of the Augustan fleet at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, commanded by Agrippa, secured Octavian’s control over Rome’s combined western and eastern territories.
The importance of these naval victories to Agrippa’s reputation and Augustus’ restored image of authority is further attested by a number of coins and medals struck during Augustus’ reign. Coinage was increasingly used in the late Republican era to convey propagandistic messages for the sponsors of the issues.[4] Several denarii and medallions were struck depicting Augustus as Neptune, undercutting Sextus Pompeius’ similar claim of association with the god. Further commemoratives were issued after the victory at Actium.
Aside from coinage, public monuments further proclaimed the stability offered by Augustus’ leadership of the state. After Naulochus (and the disarming of Lepidus by Augustus) the Senate decreed the placement of a golden column and statue in the Forum with an inscription “that after prolonged disturbances, order had been restored by land and sea.”[5] It was over a decade later that Agrippa dedicated this Basilica Neptuni, part of a complex of public buildings he erected in the southern part of the Campus Martius.
The coinage, public architecture, special military honors, and triumphal celebrations, taken together, were forms of imagery and propaganda designed to show the Roman public that the Augustan regime had control of the seas and, by extension, the grain supply routes.
Notes:
[1] Agrippa, just returned from a successful campaign in Gaul, refused the honor of a triumph rather than celebrate during Augustus’ embarrassment. (Cassius Dio, Roman History, XLVIII: 49.4). See discussion in Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1960), pp. 227-231.
[2] According to Cassius Dio, this was a unique military honor: “Upon his lieutenants he bestowed various gifts and upon Agrippa a golden crown adorned with ships' beaks — a decoration given to nobody before or since. And in order that Agrippa might regularly enjoy this trophy of his naval victory on every occasion on which generals should wear the laurel crown in celebrating a triumph, Caesar's grant was later confirmed by a decree.” (Cassius Dio, Roman History, XLIX: 14.3-4).
[3] Noted by Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars: XXV.26, trans. Robert Graves (rev. Michael Grant): "Marcus Agrippa earned the right to fly a blue ensign in recognition of this naval victory off Sicily." See the discussion of this award at Roman Empire: Historical Flags. Cassius Dio says the flag was for victory at Actium (Cassius Dio, Roman History, LI: 21.3).
[4] For a list of representative propaganda issues, see From Octavian to Augustus: Images Illustrating His Rise to Power, Eric Kondratieff, especially numbers 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, and 46.
[5] Syme, pp. 233-4, citing Appian.
Quadrireme image from Navistory; Octavian as Neptune image from Kondratieff, image 34.
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Featured November 15 , 2007
