Augustus had used images to manipulate people into believing one thing when in fact the very opposite was true. So he discovered how to use art to tell a political lie. It was a technique that would b...
The images are of Augustus accepting the surrender of Rome's sworn enemy, the Parthian s. It was his greatest triumph and the gods are shown looking on with approval. The message is clear: Augustus wa...
This is the Vatican City, not only the center of the Catholic Church, but also home to one of the greatest collections of Roman art anywhere in the world. And within that collection, one piece is outs...
These two groups were locked in a struggle for the control of ancient Rome. Neither side was prepared to compromise. It looked like the two tribes would be forever divided. That was until a new conten...
It's the power to persuade us to think what they want us to think and to see things the way they do, and even to deceive us. So how did art go from being a tool of political promotion, to being an ins...
So effective was his discovery that throughout his rule he continued to refine it. Hundreds of statues were made of his heroic physical presence. Alexander may have had the perfect image, but it was u...
But the most significant aspect of this little ivory head was when it was made, it was placed in this tomb. That means that it was made before Philip died and before Alexander became king. In other wo...
He was surrounded by incredible riches, the riches of a king. They showed he was a man of exquisite taste, these are really the most beautiful objects of their kind we have ever discovered. These were...
But how, as a foreign invader, would he ever win the hearts and minds of his new subjects? Alexander understood the power of the visual techniques used by Darius, but he had to come up with an image a...
Well, that's better, 200 feet above the desert, face to face with the tomb of Darius. There's a lengthy inscription describing his benevolent rule, but it's the depiction of Darius himself that's so i...
The most spectacular reliefs of all are those decorating the staircase that leads to the Great Hall of Darius. Once a year, Darius would invite ambassadors from every nation within his empire to join...
Around 500 BC, this problem was particularly acute for one king above all. He'd taken control of a kingdom so large. It was the world's first empire. He needed to find a new way to impose his power ac...
What this individual had discovered was something that we today take for granted. Art, as personal adornment, enhances your status, it lifts you above your peers and our king was the first leader in B...
As they examined these more closely, they realized they were in fact ornaments, probably hair clasp s, and both beautifully crafted. They may not look very much now, tiny with just a very simple patte...
So what happened? How did imagery come to be used as a political tool? Well it's a process that happens at different times in various parts of the world. But in one of those parts, Britain, archeologi...
