NotCensusbutDeductio: Reconsidering the ‘Araof Domitius Ahenobarbus’

AbstractSince its rediscovery in the late nineteenth century, the ‘Araof Domitius Ahenobarbus’ has become a keystone in the history of Roman republican art. Following the seminal interpretation of Alfred von Domaszewski, the monument is usually understood as commemorating the key stages of the Roman census. This paper offers a fundamental reappraisal of theAra's imagery, based on an iconographic analysis which takes into account all relevant signs of rank and status such as shoes, clothing and other attributes. From this it becomes clear that none of the three protagonists on theAracan be identified as a censor. Consequently, the monument neither commemorated a census nor was it a censorial location. Instead, I suggest that theAraactually shows another important political event, namely thedeductioof a Roman colony which I tentatively identify as thecolonia Neptuniafounded by Gaius Gracchus in 123b.c.