Archaeology Magazine - October 1969 - 65

honoring the same event and also struck in the East.
The wings of the Victory on it are extended horizontally. The goddess here too holds wreath and palm,
but she stands on the prow of a ship, thus making
the reference to Actium indisputable. It is possible
that such a Victory was intended to fill the space between the trophy with a carnyx and the vertical depression down the middle of the back. We might
further assume a similar group on the other half of
the cuirass: first a figure representing another defeated
nation and then a Victory now standing right and
with the same attributes, the wreath and palm, as its
counterpart. Hispania would seem to be a likely choice
for the defeated nation. With the victories of Augustus in 26-25 B.c. over the Celtic tribes in northern
Spain, the pacification of that country could be considered complete.
If we raise the objection that a central group would
seem absolutely necessary to show the identity of the
person or symbol to be honored, there seems to be
sufficient room for such a figure. The obvious choice
would be the Actium trophy which we find on one
coin struck in the East between 29 and 27 B.c. Here
the trophy is stuck into the prow of a ship and is
decorated with arms, a rudder and an anchor. If this
trophy is accepted as the model for the central figure
on the cuirass, the two converging Victories would no
doubt stand free of any prow.
It thus seems a reasonable guess that the decoration on the back of the cuirass was to comprise two
trophies symbolizing two nations different from those
portrayed on the front otherwise why the unusual
act of decorating the back at all ? Between these would
be a trophy of Actium with a Victory on each side
offering a wreath and a palm branch. With the two
seated personifications on the front, we have indications of five different groups: two personifications of
defeated nations on the front and a tripartite group
in the center of the back flanked by representations of
two other defeated nations.
We think, naturally, of the five tripartite groups
placed by Augustus on the top step of the structure
which was once the basic support of the Round Monument in the court of the Temple of Athena at Pergamon. We remember further that this monument carried a colossal statue of Augustus. We then wonder
if, for some reason or other, the five groups from
the Pergamon monument might have a bearing upon
the identification of the five representations on the
Prima Porta cuirass.
Such a hypothesis would present, in the first place,
an acceptable explanation for the unprecedented decoration on the back of the cuirass. The trophy and the

Detail of the seated figure on the Prima Porta cuirass usuallyidentifiedas the personificationof some
Celtic group, here as Galatia; photograph courtesy
of die GermanArchaeologicalInstitute,Rome.
wing of the Victory are not a complement to the
seated personification on the right front, nor are they
a means of filling in an empty space in the corner of
the back. Together with the trophy of Actium and
the two seated personifications on the front, they
would represent the characteristic features of the five
tripartite groups which Augustus had dedicated to
Athena and placed on the base of what was now his
victory monument.
In other words, the decoration on the Prima Porta
cuirass is made up of two parts: one consists of the
two central figures, the Roman and the Parthian, surrounded by divine helpers of Augustus. The other
included four representatives of defeated nations and
a tripartite group consisting of the Actium trophy
with the appropriate Victories. These seven figures, in
my opinion, did not belong to the original of the
Prima Porta statue, as it was first conceived by the
sculptor. They were added to the cuirass so that the
imperial couple would have in one marble a copy
both of the colossal statue as it stood on the top of
the Round Monument in Pergamon and copies from
the five bronze groups on the base of the same monument- one of the Actium trophy with Victories and
one identifying figure from each of the four remaining tripartite groups.
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Archaeology Magazine - October 1969

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - October 1969