Altar of the Gens Augusta

Materials recorded for it are marble. The recorded method of making is sculpture. It is associated with Tunisia. The record gives 14 as its date of establishment or first appearance. It is recorded in the collection of Roman antiquities collections in the Bardo National Museum and Bardo National Museum.

• Illustration — Plan of Roman Carthage. The altar was found near the forum. The altar was found in the immediate vicinity of the Temple of the Gens Augusta. Like several other public buildings, the temple belonged to the Roman quarter of Carthage, which was laid out following the establishment of the Roman colony in 29 BC. The name chosen for the colony, Colonia Iulia Concordia Carthago referenced Augustus's adopted family, the Gens Julia on the one hand and, on the other, the Roman goddess of peace, Concordia, patroness of the city.

The altar was discovered in 1916 to the acclaim of scholarly circles. Louis Poinssot published a monograph in 1929 which is the basic reference work for the artwork to this day. In the middle of the twentieth century, Jean Charbonneaux identified the altar as an exceptional example of Roman popular cult. He emphasised its "clarity and naive simplicity," especially given that "only a few monumental reliefs survive from the time of Augustus." Further scholars have affirmed the significance of the altar. The Tunisian archaeologist Abdelmajid Ennabli saw it as an "important document for the understanding of Imperial ideology." For Mohamed Yacoub it is a manifesto of Augustan art, since it creates a connection "between Roman realism and Greek idealism." Yann Le Bohec even considered it the "most spectacular display of Roman art in Africa yet known."