Art historical images of European and North American architecture and sculpture from classical Greek to Post-modern. Scanned from slides taken on site by Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton College. One side of the base has a dedicatory inscription, two sides record the funerary decursio , a ceremony performed by the Roman cavalry, and one side shows the ascent of the emperor and his wife to Heaven. The column itself has not been preserved. The Emperor holds a sceptre crowned with an eagle.
Eagles also accompany their ascent.
Augustus had placed the obelisk there as a sun dial and it was the site of the ritual of the imperial deification. The personified female figure represents Rome. Roma's shield depicts the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus suckled by a wolf. She seems to salute the royal couple. The two sides depicting the decursio , or the ceremonial maneuvers as part of the deification ritual On these two almost identical sides, members of the cavalry circle the standing figures, two carrying military standards and the rest fully armored.