Gemma Augustea

It is commonly agreed that the gem cutter who created it was either Dioscurides or one of his disciples, in the second or third decade of the 1st century AD.

The Gemma Augustea is a low-relief cameo engraved gem cut from a double-layered Arabian onyx stone.

Dioscurides was Caesar Augustus’ favorite gem cutter, and his work and copies of it are seen from all over the ancient Roman world.

In terms of the ages of the portrait figures, the gem is "set" as though in the period c. AD 10–20, although some scholars believe it to have been created decades later because of their interpretation of the scene.

Another viewpoint is that the gem does portray Augustus as a god in his lifetime, but was cut specifically for a close friend or relative in the inner court circle.

The whereabouts of the gemma were undocumented, though it remained relatively intact and was probably always above ground, until 1246 when it was recorded in the treasury of the abbey of Saint-Sernin in the French city of Toulouse.

In 1533 King Francis I of France, visiting the city, took the opportunity to appropriate it on the pretext of showing it to Pope Clement VII.

This setting shows that the gem must have been damaged, the upper left side being broken with at least one other figure missing, probably before Rudolph II bought it, but definitely before 1700.

[3] The enthroned figure, #1 in the numbered illustration, is usually taken to be Augustus, although in some interpretations, it could represent a later Roman ruler.

She is crowning figure #1 with the corona civica of oak leaves - used to commend someone for saving the life of a Roman citizen.

Figure #5 is Oceanus or Neptune whose significance is often seen as one balancing the scene across from #4 and #7, and also an important onlooker, as he represents the realm of water.

The helmeted goddess holds a spear in her right arm while her left hand lightly touches the hilt of her sword, probably showing that Rome was always prepared for war.

The reason for the cutting of this gem is also called into question when it is noted that Roma was not worshiped inside Rome till around the rule of Hadrian.

Historically, a victory chariot was driven by four horses forming a quadriga, not the mere two represented on the gemma, a biga.

At left, the seated male and female figures (combined in #11) are either Celts or Germans, as is apparent from their clothing and hair styles, including the man's beard, and represent prisoners of war, symbolizing the Roman victory.

Figure #18 is the least identifiable, but his helmet has led some to believe that he may be a Macedonian soldier of King Rhoemetalces I, who helped Tiberius in Pannonia.

Many interpretations insist that the ‘auxiliaries’ are dragging the barbarian prisoners to join their kindred in being bound to the trophy.

The lower scene takes place at the northern frontiers, just after a battle won by the Romans, who erect a victory trophy.

Gathered prisoners of war are waiting for their punishment in grief or begging for mercy at the hands of assisting gods.

His feet lay upon armor, which could be identified with the newly conquered barbarians, or it may depict the descent of the Julian family from Mars through his human children Romulus and Remus.

Tiberius, Augustus’ adopted son, recently having fought in the north, comes back momentarily – for Victoria anxiously urges that he continue on to fight new battles and receive his triumph.

Tiberius steps down from the chariot, doing obeisance to Augustus, giving his adoptive parent the triumph and victory.

[5] If the gem was commissioned no earlier than A.D. 12 and referred to Tiberius’ triumph over the Germans and the Pannonians, it would stand to reason that Germanicus, born in 13 B.C., was old enough to don gear and prepare for war, years after his father's death.

It is said that the image of Augustus as Jupiter is linked to future Roman triumphs by Horace in his Odes: He'll be brave who trusts himself to perfidious foes, and he will crush the Carthaginians in a second war who has tamely felt the chains upon his fettered wrists and has stood in fear of death.

Tis said he set aside his wife’s chaste kisses and his little children, as one bereft of civil rights, and sternly bent his manly gaze upon the ground till he should strengthen the Senate’s wavering purpose by advice ne’er given before, and amid sorrowing friends should hurry forth a glorious exile.

Full well he knew what the barbarian torturer was making ready for him; and yet he pushed aside the kinsmen who blocked his path and the people who would halt his going with no less unconcern than if some case in court had been decided, and he were leaving the tedious business of his clients, speeding to Venafran fields, or to Lacedaemonian Tarentum.