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 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.