The Ara Pacis is one of the most important Roman monuments, projected to celebrate the Augustus’s return from expedition in Gaul and Spain (happened the 13 BC, four years before the inauguration), with a wish for a new peaceful age. It is historically located at the end of a difficult period of internal struggle, started with the Julius Caesar killing in 44 BC, at the beginning of a new era of Roman power coincident with the Empire foundation. The monument was placed near the North entrance of Rome, close to via Flaminia, in a flat area of Campus Martius, in close relationship with other Augustan monuments. They were its future Mausoleum, and especially the solar orologium, whose gnomon, formed by an Egyptian obelisk, projected the shadow at the altar’s entrance in Augustus date of birth. The iconographic project of the monument had to underline the new values of the Augustus power and a senatorial commission approved the choice of subjects represented on the monument. The big decoration of the external vestment, of Hellenistic-Alexandrine derivation, shows a careful knowledge of plant’s world and a deep observation of Nature. About ninety different species have been identified, overall bulbous ones, among which, some assume a recurring role (e.g. Acanthus mollis, Arum cfr. italicum, Lilium candidum, Nymphaea sp., Phoenix dactylifera, and Cardueae), while others are peculiar of the context in which they have been included. The analysis of the used species, of their reciprocal disposition and of the way they are highlighted, seems to confirm their symbolic aim. This looks to be directed to a Nature’s representation in its phases of rebirth and of unending renovation, typical of the time when the effect of burns or drought ends. Rebirth, that is possible thanks to peace and unity in multiplicity, has to be intended as the requirement for a new prosperity, a prelude of Augustus’s aurea aetas. The composition underlines the role of symmetry and of numerical composition that leads the idea of beauty and harmony. A generative element (Acanthus), giving rise to all the botanical complexity, shows a model of growth inspired to a combination of elements, such as snake-like and colonial plants, having the structure of “ramets”. The perspective of the Roman Empire foundation and the idea of a propagation of its model of order arise from this colonial structure. The synchronous fusion of different element could ideally underline the Unity that exists in Nature.

The Ara Pacis is one of the most important Roman monuments, projected to celebrate the Augustus’s return from expedition in Gaul and Spain (happened the 13 BC, four years before the inauguration), with a wish for a new peaceful age. It is historically located at the end of a difficult period of internal struggle, started with the Julius Caesar killing in 44 BC, at the beginning of a new era of Roman power coincident with the Empire foundation. The monument was placed near the North entrance of Rome, close to via Flaminia, in a flat area of Campus Martius, in close relationship with other Augustan monuments. THE ICONOGRAPHIC PROJECT of the monument was to underline the new values of the Augustus power and a senatorial commission approved the choice of subjects represented on the monument. During the planning the new Ara pacis Museum, the question arised whether the representation of the plants in the outer vestment of the Ara Pacis was faithful to natural reality or purely fantastical. The research done on this topic showed the carvings shows simultaneously with a fantastical and extremely realistic representation, which was fruit of the mixture of hundreds of real elements, faithfully reproduced, but impossibly represented in natural reality, thus fantastical. The big decoration of the external vestment, of Hellenistic-Alexandrine derivation, is in fact the fruit of a careful knowledge of plant’s world and a deep observation of Nature. About ninety different species have been identified, among which, some are recurrent (e.g. Acanthus mollis, Arum cfr. italicum, Lilium candidum, Nymphaea sp., Phoenix dactylifera, and Cardueae), while the majority of plants are only used few times and specific of the context in which they have been included. The inspiring landscapes were the arid pastures, rocky and ruderal habitats, garrigues, and sometimes also humid places, widely spread in the wide Euro-Mediterranean area and plants have been reproduced in their phases of initial flowering. THE MEANING: The analysis of the used species, of their reciprocal disposition and of the way they are highlighted, seems to confirm a symbolic aim. This seems to be directed to a Nature’s representation in its phases of rebirth and of unending renovation, typical of season periods when the effect of burns or drought ends. Rebirth, which is possible thanks to peace and unity in multiplicity, has to be intended as the requirement for a new prosperity, a prelude of Augustus’s Aurea aetas. The composition underlines the role of symmetry and of numerical composition that leads to the idea of beauty and harmony. A generative element (Acanthus, as a metaphor of the rebirth of Rome), giving rise to all the botanical complexity, shows a model of growth inspired to a combination of elements, such as snake-like and colonial plants (as a perspective of the Roman Empire foundation and the idea of a propagation of its model of order). The synchronous fusion of different elements could ideally underline the Unity that exists in Nature. THE COMMUNICATION: The problem of intelligibility for the ancient observer is another important question, but we have to consider that the ancient people were aware of nature diversity and its functional mechanisms, at least in its exterior part, and were able to carry out mental transpositions between the natural elements and human history belonged to their normal way of interpreting the world. The allegory was a common method of communication and, through it, moods, situations and projections in the future of men, gods and heroes could be revealed. Thus, one could reach people belonging to the different social strata who, according to their own cultural level, could read the message with a different extent of comprehension. A CHAPTER OF EUROPEAN CULTURE By consequence and most importantly, this analysis underlines the need of a deeper interpretation of the “naturalistic representation” giving new life to a way of communication in which Nature was used to bring fundamental messages, through a well-known and consolidated symbolic language, that now we have made trivial and forgotten.

This story is an example of enhancement of our cultural heritage that increases the interest in studying and protecting it. It contributes to a deeper understanding of cultural heritage, explaining to modern people the ancient way of feeling, believes, and way of communication, hopefully creating increasing the interest in protecting their own roots, history, art and culture. In fact, the interpretation of this lost language also contributes to a preservation of an intangible cultural heritage, which represents a plus to the conservation of the monument in se. The monument (ARA PACIS), with its high symbolic meaning, can be considered an outstanding example of the enhancement of cultural heritage in a European context due to: - the value of the universal message of the importance of peace in reaching a new and better era - the value of the peace and its communication trough the observation of nature -the prove of the great knowledge of Natural sciences in the ancient times the possibility of enhancing the old roots of the European cultural heritage - the obtained “code of nature” and proposing a message, looking at the “decoration” as a “speaking” sculpture, through an allegory - the interconnection between scientific and humanistic knowledge’s the possibility to extend the results to many other monuments in the Euro-Mediterranean context