Erected in the 1st century CE in the Roman colony of Nemausus – today’s Nîmes in France – the Maison Carrée is an early example of a Roman temple associated with imperial worship in the provinces of Rome. Dedicated to the prematurely deceased heirs of Augustus, the Princes of Youth, this edifice fostered Rome’s control over its conquered territory while symbolically announcing the allegiance of the population of the city of Nemausus to the dynastic line of Augustus. The architecture and elaborate decoration symbolically communicated the ideological programme of Augustus, who transitioned Ancient Rome from republic to empire, opening a new golden age known as Pax Romana.

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