Augustus as Pontifex Maximus

This marble statue shows Augustus as Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest of Rome, from the late Augustan period (10–1 BC). Wearing a toga—the formal garment of civic life—he stands beside a capsa, a document box. His raised hand once held a patera, a bowl for libations. As Pontifex Maximus, Augustus oversaw state religion and promoted the mores maiorum, the ancestral traditions that reinforced his authority, blending realism with Hellenistic idealization to project piety and legitimacy.