Art and Architecture

Res Gestae

• built 82 new temples
• rebuilt the Capitoline and Theatre of Pompey
• constructed the Via Flaminia
• restored the channels of the aqueducts

Suetonius 

• "found it of brick, but left it of marble"
• cleansed and widened the Tiber to prevent floods

Material sources

• Ara Pacis in the Field of Mars

NB: construction of aqueducts by Agrippa under Augustus

Suetonius

• "No magnificent public work marked his reign"
• "never erected any noble edifice"
• began building the Temple of Augustus and began restoration of the Theatre of Pompey
• relied on the Senate for advice on many things including the construction of buildings

Tacitus

• built barracks for Praetorian Guard on Viminal Hill
• repaired Aventine Hill and Circus Maximus using his own money after they were damaged by a fire.

Cassius Dio

• Modest as he did not spend much on himself or his projects

Suetonius

• built the temple of Castor and Pollux into his extended palace
• completed the Temple of Augustus and the repairs on the Theatre of Pompey
• began construction on an aqueduct in the Tiber district

Cassius Dio, Seneca and Josephus

• tried to build a bridge of boats across the bay od Baiae

Pliny the Elder

• began construction of the Aqua Claudia and Aqua Novus (account of aqueducts also comes from Frontius)
• he "saw the city ringed with the houses of emperors Caligula and Nero"

Suetonius

• completed an aqueduct
• attempted to drain the Fucine Lake
• built a harbour at Ostia (also told by Cassius Dio)

Pliny the Elder

• attempted to drain the Fucine Lake; constructed the harbour at Ostia
• "no more remarkable achievement in the whole world" on Claudius' efforts

Inscriptions

• digging in the Tiber prevented flooding during the construction of the harbour
• he renovated the Aqua Virgo (inscription on the Aqua Virgo)
• completed the Aqua Claudia and Novus (Inscriptions on Aqua Claudia)
• costruction of the harbour at Ostia (inscription near Ostia)

Material sources

• Arch of Claudius built into the Aqua Virgo

Suetonius

• ordered piazzas to be erected before every house to prevent fires spreading
• costructed the Domus Aurea and the Colossus
• introduced his "own style of architecture in the city"

Tacitus

• constructed emergency accomodation for homeless 
• attempted to build a canal from Lake Alvernus to the Tiber (abandoned due to the unforgiving terrain)
• Nero renovated Rome through his regulations concerning the building of new houses, materials used, height of building and width of the street.
• All this "beautified the city"

Pliny the Elder

• Nero's Colossus is described
• "saw the city ringed by the houses of emperors Caligula and Nero"

Suetonius

• began building the Flavian Amphitheatre (which had been a pet project of Augustus)
• encouraged the rebuilding efforts in Rome, allowing people to build on unclaimed vacant lots and picking up the first pile of rubble himself
• built a temple to Claudius and restored the Theatre of Marcellus

Cassius Dio

• ecourages the rebuilding efforts by picking up the first basket of rubble
• restored buildings and inscribed them with the original builder's names, not his own

Material sources

• Vespasian's Forum which commemorated the end of Jewish and civil wars

Suetonius

• Completed the Flavian Amphitheatre
• built the baths of Titus

Cassius Dio

• completed the Flavian Amphitheatre

Suetonius

• rebuilt many important buildings (with his name inscribed rather than the original builder's)
• built the arch of Titus and the Flavian temple
• built the temple of Capitoline Jupiter
• built the Forum Transitora (later Forum Nerva)

Material sources

• Arch of Titus with dedications to deified Titus and Vespasian