Temple of Mars Ultor

[2] However, work did not commence on the temple until after the recovery of the Aquilae in 20 BCE that had been lost by Marcus Licinius Crassus in the disastrous Battle of Carrhae 33 years earlier.

To the imperial regime, it was vital to accentuate the favour of the gods, as well as glorifying the ancestral figures and past of Rome, and so overcome the disorder of the civil wars that had plagued the state for over 50 years.

Finally, the role of Mars Ultor was critical in Augustus’s attempts to refashion the events of his coming to power in a way that obscured the illegality of much of his actions during those years.

In the middle, a colossal Mars Ultor depicted in full military dress, holding a large spear in his right hand and a shield in his left.

[10] By the end of the 4th century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting non-Christian worship.