Museum of the Ara Pacis

"When I returned to Rome from Gaul and Spain, under the consulate of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilio, I happily concluded my business in those provinces, the senate decreed that an altar be consecrated to the Augustan peace and that judges, priests and vestal virgins bring yearly sacrifices there." With these words Augustus ordered the Senate to build an altar to peace, after battles conducted to the north of the Alps between the years 16 and 13 BC. This came after the submission of the people to the north and gaining of control over the Alpine passes, with Hispania finally pacified, the founding of new settlements and the imposition of new taxes.