How did artwork affect ancient people in Rome?

Answer 1

Ancient artwork served a dual purpose. For one, it could have been a thing of beauty and people oohed and awed over it. However its second purpose was the more important, which was a Propaganda type purpose. The frescoes, paintings and some carvings told a story, either of a mythological lesson or of an event /honor given to a living person. The buildings, temples and arches all stated somewhere on them who built them and why. (if the "why" was not obvious, as in the arch of Titus). The statues, too, told a story by the figure's dress, what he or she was holding and howthe person was standing or what the person was doing.