Many major Roman monuments, from the Ara Pacis to the Arch of Constantine, were commissioned and built not by the emperor, but by the senate. How does it affect how we interpret these commissions if we take them seriously as senatorial as well as imperial monuments? This lecture will look closely at imagery associated with the Roman senate, including depictions of senators themselves and the Genius Senatus, and explore how the Senate became a prominent patron of images in the city of Rome.

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