Spain 19/15 BCE         Obverse type (not shown): bust of Augustus Reverse TYPE: temple of Jupiter Tonans LEGEND: IOVIS TONANT(is)

Augustus dedicated a temple to Jupiter Tonans (thunderer) in 22 BCE in thanksgiving for having escaped a bolt of lightning that killed one of his torchbearers.

A note on the moral and religious reforms of Augustus:

• When the people of Rome sought a reason for the collapse of the Republic in civil war, they focused on a [perceived] rejection of ancestral gods and of the values or traditions of the ancestors [mos maiorum]. Unaware of the structural weaknesses of the Republic, they imagined that they had broken the pax deorum (peace of the gods) by departing from the [imagined] pious, noble, simple, and self-sacrificing ways of their ancestors. The state of disrepair of public temples seemed to embody the physical and spiritual 'ruin'. Accordingly, peace and prosperity were associated with a return to 'traditional' Roman morals and religion. Augustus' cultural program entailed revival of Republican forms that were infused with new meanings, and specifically with meanings associated with himself or his household.
• Augustus rebuilt several temples, especially those dedicated to gods closely associated with him; he himself was honored with several priesthoods.
• Augustus' moral reforms included legislation related to marriage, child-bearing, adultery, and conspicuous consumption of wealth (sumptuary laws).
• After 10 years (27 - 17 BCE) during which the peace of Augustus had held firm, Rome had experienced a period of prosperity and religious revival, and even the disgrace of losing the standards to the Parthians had been blotted out, the despair that pervaded Rome in 31 BCE had swung to a mood of confidence and optimism.