Earth and Space News: Caesar Commissioned Gilt Statue of Cleopatra for Venus Genetrix Temple

Summary: Caesar commissioned a gilt statue of Cleopatra for the Venus Genetrix Temple, dedicated Sep. 26, 46 BCE, in his Forum Iulium, known as Caesar's Forum.

The three fluted columns of white Carrara marble, with entablature, that iconically announce the location of the west portico of the Temple of Venus Genetrix (Venus the Mother or Ancestress) and northwesternmost Forum of Caesar (Forum Caesaris; Forum Iulium) in the ancient architectural landscape of central Rome's 10th district, Rione Campitelli, were reconstructed and re-erected on the temple's podium in 1932-1933, during the forum's first excavation; Friday, Nov. 9, 2018, 14:11, image of Temple of Venus Genetrix columns: Wolfgang Moroder (Moroder), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Julius Caesar commissioned a gilt statue of Cleopatra for the Venus Genetrix Temple that he dedicated Sep. 26, 46 BCE, in his Forum Iulium (Forum of the Iulius; Julius Caesar's paternal gens Iulia lineage), also known as Forum Caesaris (Forum of Caesar).

As early as 54 BCE, Roman general and statesman Gaius Julius Caesar (July 12 or 13, 100-March 15, 44 BCE) had envisioned construction of his namesake forum. In their entry on "Forum Iulium" in A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1929), American classicist and archaeologist Samuel Ball Platner (Dec. 4, 1863-Aug. 20, 1921) and British archaeologist Thomas Ashby (Oct. 14, 1874-May 15, 1931) traced the forum's origins to an epistolary mention of Caesar's arranging for the purchase of land as an expansion of the Roman Forum (Latin: Forum Romanum), central Rome's overcrowded commercial and political nucleus (pages 225-226).

"Accordingly, the friends of Caesar -- I mean myself and Oppius, though you burst with anger -- have thought nothing of 60,000 sestertia for that monument, which you used to speak of in such high terms, in order to enlarge the forum and extend it right up to the Hall of Liberty. The claims of private owners could not be satisfied for less. We will make it a most glorious affair," Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero (Jan. 3, 106-Dec. 7, 43 BCE) wrote in a letter, ca. June 24, 54 BCE, to wealthy Roman publisher Titus Pomponius Atticus (110-March 31, 32 BCE).

Additional land continued to be purchased for Caesar's forum project. Construction of the forum probably commenced in 51 BCE, while Caesar was concluding the Gallic Wars (58-50 BCE). The land for Caesar's forum ". . . cost him above a hundred millions of sesterces" (Book I, XXVI, page 22), wrote Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 69-after 122 BCE) in his biography of Caesar in De Vita Caesarum (Life of the Caesars), commonly known as The Twelve Caesars. Platner and Ashby valued 100,000,000 sesterces at an equivalence of one million pounds (page 226).

After winding down the Gallic Wars, Caesar was confronted with hostility from his former political ally and son-in-law, Roman general and statesman Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Sep. 29, 106-Sep. 28, 48 BCE), known in English as Pompey. Their military and political opposition induced Caesar's Civil Wars, which lasted from Jan. 10, 49-March 17, 45 BCE. Caesar achieved final victory over Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus, fought Aug. 9, 48 BCE, in southern Thessaly (Greek: Θεσσαλία, Thessalía), near the ancient city of Pharsalus (Ancient Greek: Φάρσαλος, Pharsalos) and the Enipeus (Ancient Greek: Ἐνιπεύς, Enipeus) River in central Greece.

On the battle's eve, Caesar vowed to honor Roman goddess Venus with a temple in her aspect as Venus Victrix (Venus the Victorious) as thanksgiving for his decisive defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus. Caesar's paternal Julian lineage, gens Julia, traced descent back to Venus and Trojan prince Anchises as first ancestors.

Greek-born, later Roman citizen, writer Appian of Alexandria (Ancient Greek: Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Appianòs Alexandreýs; ca. 95-ca. 165 CE) narrated the setting for the vow in the De Bellis Civilibus (Of the Civil Wars) section of his Greek-language, 24-volume work, Historia Romana (Roman History). "He offered sacrifice at midnight and invoked Mars and his own ancestress, Venus (for it was believed that from Aeneas and his son, Ilus, was descended the Julian race, with a slight change of name), and he vowed that he would build a temple in Rome as a thank-offering to her as the Bringer of Victory if everything went well. Thereupon a flame from heaven flew through the air from Caesar's camp to Pompey's, where it was extinguished. Pompey's men said that it signified a brilliant victory for them over their enemies, but Caesar interpreted it as a meaning that he should fall upon and extinguished the power of Pompey" (HR XIV, BCII.X.68, page 353).

Caesar subsequently decided to emphasize his lineage's personal connection with Venus by dedicating a temple to her epithet of Venus Genetrix (Venus the Ancestress; Venus the Mother). Caesar's Temple of Venus Genetrix was incorporated into his Forum Iulium, his forum's official name, despite regular naming as Forum Caesaris in ancient sources, according to Platner and Ashby (page 226). The temple was sited in the forum's northwesternmost part. It was elevated on a podium in the rectangular forum's northern side.

The Temple of Venus Genetrix was designed as an octostyle (Ancient Greek ὀκτώ, okto, “eight” + στῦλος, stulos, “pillar, column”). Eight columns, counting two corners, defined each of the temple site's façade (French: façade, "front") and two sides.

The columns exhibited pycnostyle placement. Indeed, first century BCE Roman architect and engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (ca. 80-ca. 15 BCE) cited the Temple of Venus Genetrix as the exemplar of the pycnostyle, the narrowest of five intercolumniations, or spaces between columns, in his Latin architectural treatise, De Architectura, Libri Decem (The Ten Books on Architecture). "The pycnostyle is a temple in an intercolumniation of which the thickness of a column and a half can be inserted: for example, the temple of the Divine Caesar, that of Venus in Caesar's forum, and others constructed like them" (III.III.2, page 79).

The Temple of Venus Genetrix featured two attention-getting sculptures. Caesar commissioned first century BCE Greek sculptor Arcesilaus (Ancient Greek: Ἀρκεσίλαος, Arkesilaos) to create the temple's cult statue. Roman polymath and writer Marcus Terentius Varro ". . . speaks very highly of Arcesilaus . . . and says that his sketch-models of clay used to sell for more, among artists themselves, than the finished works of others; and that this artist made the statue of Venus Genetrix in Caesar’s Forum and that it was erected before it was finished as there was a great haste to dedicate it; . . ." (XXXV.XLV, pages 374-375), explained Roman encyclopedist Gaius Plinius Secundus (23-Aug. 25, 79), known as Pliny the Elder, in the 35th book of his 37-book Historia Naturalis (Natural History).

A gilt statue of Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII Philopator (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ, Kleopatra Philopator; ca. 69-Aug. 10 or 12, 30 BCE) also was displayed in the Temple of Venus Genetrix. "He placed a beautiful image of Cleopatra by the side of the goddess, which stands there to this day," Appian noted (BCII.XV.102, page 417).

Various other objects of art adorned the temple. Paintings of Ajax and of Medea by Greek painter Timomachus of Byzantium were displayed. "But it was the Dictator Cæsar who gave outstanding public importance to pictures by dedicating paintings of Ajax and Medea in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix" (XXXV.IX, pages 278-279), observed Pliny the Elder. The paintings had ". . . been bought at the price of 80 talents . . ." (XXXV.XL, page 361).

The statues and the other works of art have disappeared. Their fates, in the 20 centuries that have passed since the Sep. 26, 46 BCE, dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix and the Forum of Caesar, are unknown.

Reconstructed view of Forum of Caesar (Forum Caesaris; Forum Iulium) shows the forum's rectangular plan, with Temple of Venus Genetrix (back) centered on the forum's northern side: Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, via Facebook April 14, 2020

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

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Bostock, John; and H.T. (Henry Thomas) Riley. "Chap. 40. . . . Timomachus of Byzantium, in the time of the Dictator Cæsar, painted an Ajax and a Medea, which were placed by Cæsar in the Temple of Venus Genetrix, having been purchased at the price of eighty talents; the value of the Attic talent being, according to M. Varro, equivalent to six thousand denarii." Book XXXV, page 277. The Natural History of Pliny. Vol. VI, Book XXXV: Pages 223-304. London: Henry G. Bohn, MDCCCLVII [1857]. Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof06plinrich/page/277/mode/1up
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Bostock, John; and H.T. (Henry Thomas) Riley. "Chap. 45. -- He speaks very highly also of Arcesilaüs, . . . whose models in plaster used to sell at a higher rate, among artists themselves, than the works of others, lie informs us, also, that it was by this modeller that the Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Cæsar was executed, it having been erected before completion, in the great haste that there was to consecrate it; . . ." Book XXXV, page 285. The Natural History of Pliny. Vol. VI, Book XXXV: Pages 223-304. London: Henry G. Bohn, MDCCCLVII [1857]. Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof06plinrich/page/285/mode/1up
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Lucius Cassius Dio. ". . . . After this came the festival appointed in honour of the completion of the temple of Venus, which some, while Caesar was still alive, had promised to celebrate, but were now holding in slight regard . . .; so to win the favour of the populace, he provided for it as his private expense, on the ground that it concerned him because of his family. . . . When, however, a certain star during all those days appeared in the north toward evening, which some called a comet, claiming that it foretold the usual occurrences, while the majority, instead of believing this, ascribed it to Caesar, interpreting it to mean that he had become immortal and had been received into the number of the stars, Octavius then took courage and set up in the temple of Venus a bronze statue of him with a star above his head. And when this act also was allowed, no one trying to prevent it through fear of the populace, then at last some of the other decrees already passed in honour of Caesar were put into effect. Thus they called one of the months July after him. . . ." Book XLV.6, pages 416-419. Dio's Roman History, vol. IV. With an English Translation by Earnest Cary, Ph.D. On the Basis of the Version of Herbert Baldwin Forster, Ph.D. Loeb Classical Library LBL 175. London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge MA Harvard University Press, MCMXVI [1916].
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Lucius Cassius Dio. ". . . . Among other features, an effigy of the dead Cleopatra upon a couch was carried by, so that in a way, she, too, together with the other captives and with her children, Alexander, called also Helios, and Cleopatra, called also Selene, was a part of the spectacle and a trophy in the procession. . . ." Book LI.21, pages 60-63. Dio's Roman History, vol. VI. With an English Translation by Earnest Cary, Ph.D. On the Basis of the Version of Herbert Baldwin Forster, Ph.D. Loeb Classical Library LBL 175. First printed 1917. Reprinted 1955. London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge MA Harvard University Press, MCMLV [1955].
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Lucius Cassius Dio. ". . . . For he had himself constructed the forum called after him, and it is distinctly more beautiful than the Roman Forum; yet it had increased the reputation of the other so that that was called the Great Forum. So after completing this new forum and the temple to Venus, as the founder of his family, he dedicated them at this very time, and in their honour instituted many contests of all kinds. . . ." Book XLIII.10, pages 250-251. Dio's Roman History, vol. IV. With an English Translation by Earnest Cary, Ph.D. On the Basis of the Version of Herbert Baldwin Forster, Ph.D. Loeb Classical Library LBL 175. London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge MA Harvard University Press, MCMXVI [1916].
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Lucius Cassius Dio. ". . . . Thus Cleopatra, though defeated and captured, was nevertheless glorified, inasmuch as her adornments repose as decorations in our temples and she herself is seen in gold in the shrine of Venus." Book LI.22, pages 62-65. Dio's Roman History, vol. VI. With an English Translation by Earnest Cary, Ph.D. On the Basis of the Version of Herbert Baldwin Forster, Ph.D. Loeb Classical Library LBL 175. First printed 1917. Reprinted 1955. London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge MA Harvard University Press, MCMLV [1955].
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Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../3889233141149719/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/3889233141149719/
"Il Foro di Cesare." Facebook. Sep. 13, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../3012562238816818/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/3012562238816818/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Fregio con amorini dal Tempio di Venere Genitrice." May 25, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../1984684814937904/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/1984684814937904/
"Fregio con Amorini, dalla cella del Tempio di Venere Genitrice, 112-113 d.C. (Museo dei Fori Imperiali)." Facebook. April 14, 2020.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../3696488650424170/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/3696488650424170/
"Added a new photo." Facebook. May 4, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../1956527351086984/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/1956527351086984/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "I lavori sono terminati e l'area è visitabile." Facebook. March 26, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2572483702824676/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2572483702824676/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "I palazzi che saranno demoliti nell'area del Foro di Cesare in una fotografia del 1932." Facebook. March 4, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2524338747639172/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2524338747639172/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Il Foro di Cesare oggi." Facebook. April 14, 2020.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../3696486390424396/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/3696486390424396/
"Il settore nord del Foro di Cesare oggi." Facebook. March 26, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2572483936157986/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2572483936157986/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Le prime operazioni di sterro." Facebook. March 26, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2572482852824761/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2572482852824761/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Lo sterro del Foro di Cesare in corso." Facebook. March 26, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2572483076158072/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2572483076158072/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Lo sterro del foro di Cesare in un acquerello di Maria Barosso (1932) conservato al Museo di Roma." Facebook. March 26, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2572483356158044/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2572483356158044/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Pianta del Foro di Cesare. L'area occupata dalla basilica Argentaria è evidenziata in verde -- at Foro di Cesare." Facebook. Dec. 4, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2343615039044878/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2343615039044878/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Riaprono i musei del Sistema Musei Civici di Roma, con i capolavori delle loro collezioni permanenti, le mostre già in corso e prorogate, e quelle di prossima partenza, come Colori dei Romani. I mosaici dalle Collezioni Capitoline alla Centrale Montemartini (27 aprile). Tornano inoltre a essere visitabili anche le nostre aree archeologiche, come i Fori Imperiali e il Circo Massimo, dove è di nuovo attiva la visita immersiva in realtà aumentata e virtuale Circo Maximo Experience. Informazioni generali: https://bit.ly/3nkvW2t Informazioni sulle modalità di ingresso: https://bit.ly/3aI9Fq2." Facebook. April 26, 2021.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../5499052153501135/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/5499052153501135/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "ricostruzione del Tempio di Venere Genitrice." Facebook. June 30, 2020.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../3889233564483010/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/3889233564483010/
"Tempio di Venere Genitrice, fase traianea. Veduta ricostruttiva." Facebook. Dec. 7, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../1757005367705851/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/1757005367705851/
"Veduta ricostruttiva del Tempio di Venere Genitrice nel Foro di Cesare, nella fase traianea." Facebook. May 25, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../1984685028271216/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/1984685028271216/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Veduta ricostruttiva del Foro di Cesare. La Basilica Argentaria è a sinistra del Tempio di Venere Genitrice -- at Foro di Cesare." Facebook. Dec. 4, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../2343614882378227/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/2343614882378227/
"Veduta ricostruttiva del Foro di Cesare." Facebook. May 25, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/photos/pb.100069162791356.-2207520000../1984684941604558/
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/1984684941604558/
"Veduta ricostruttiva del Foro di Cesare." Facebook. July 13, 2017.
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Available @ https://it-it.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/1584472761625780/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Veduta del Foro di Cesare oggi: i resti del colonnato del portico occidentale e le taberne.." Facebook. April 14, 2020.
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Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SovrintendenzaCapitolina/posts/3699319400141095/

Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Veduta ricostruttiva del Foro di Cesare in età cesariana." Facebook. April 14, 2020.
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"Veduta ricostruttiva del Foro di Cesare. Sul fondo: il Tempio di Venere Genitrice." Facebook. July 13, 2017.
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Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. "Veduta ricostruttiva del Foro di Cesare nel IV secolo d.C." Facebook. April 14, 2020.
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"Ricostruzione del foro di cesare nel IV secolo d.C." Facebook. Oct. 27, 2017.
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Stewart, Andrew. Greek Sculpture: An Exploration. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.

Thomson, Alexander, trans. "XXVI. . . . With money raised from the spoils of the war, he began to construct a new forum, the ground-plot of which cost him above a hundred millions of sesterces." Page 22. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by C. Suetonius Tranquillus. 1. Caius Julius Caesar: 1-72. Philadelphia: Gebbie & Co., 1883.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/livesoftwelvecsa00suet/page/22/mode/1up

Ulrich, Roger B. "Julius Caesar and the Creation of the Forum Iulium." American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 97, no. 1 (January 1993): 49-80.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/505839

Waldstein, Charles. "Pasiteles and Arkesilaos, the Venus Genetrix and the Venus of the Esquiline." The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, vol. III, nos. 1 and 2 (June 1887): 1-13.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/496373#metadata_info_tab_contents

White, Horace, trans. "Chap.XV.102. . . . He erected the temple to Venus, his ancestress, as he had vowed to do when he was about to begin the battle of Pharsalus, and he laid out ground around the temple which he intended to be a forum for the Roman people, not for buying and selling, but a meeting-place for the transaction of public business, like the public squares of the Persians, where the people assemble to seek justice or to learn the laws. He placed a beautiful image of Cleopatra by the side of the goddess, which stands there to this day. . . ." Pages 414-417. Appian's Roman History: The Civil Wars. In four volumes. Volume III. Book II: 229-515. First printed 1913. Reprinted 1933, 1958, 1964. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., MCMLXIV (1964).
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/appiansromanhist0000appi_s3m0/page/414/mode/1up
Available via Tufts University Perseus Digital Library @ http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0232%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D15%3Asection%3D102

White, Horace, trans. "Chap.X.68. (Prodigies before the battle). That same night three of Caesar's legions started out to forage; for Caesar himself approved Pompey's dilatory proceedings, and had no idea that he would change, and accordingly sent them out to procure food. When he perceived that the enemy was preapring to fight he was delighted at the pressure which he conjectured had been put upon Pompey by his army, and he recalled all of his forces at once and made preparations on his own side. He offered sacrifice at midnight and invoked Mars and his own ancestress, Venus (for it was believed that from Aeneas and his son, Ilus, was descended the Julian race, with a slight change of name), and he vowed that he would build a temple in Rome as a thank-offering to her as the Bringer of Victory if everything went well. Thereupon a flame from heaven flew through the air from Caesar's camp to Pompey's, where it was extinguished. Pompey's men said that it signified a brilliant victory for them over their enemies, but Caesar interpreted it as a meaning that he should fall upon and extinguish the power of Pompey. . . ." Pages 352-353. Appian's Roman History: The Civil Wars. In four volumes. Volume III. Book II: 229-515. First printed 1913. Reprinted 1933, 1958, 1964. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., MCMLXIV (1964).
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/appiansromanhist0000appi_s3m0/page/352/mode/1up
Available via Tufts University Perseus Digital Library @ http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0232%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D68

YaleCourses. "9. From Brick to Marble: Augustus Assembles Rome." YouTube. Sep. 11, 2009.
Available via YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBTiRUSNXYA

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Thursday, September 22, 2022

Caesar Commissioned Gilt Statue of Cleopatra for Venus Genetrix Temple

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