The Propaganda of Roman art is seen in a lot of their pieces – although it is very vague in some. A lot of the propaganda are displays of spoils of war, such as the Arch of Titus, which has depictions of soldiers walking under the arch with spoils from the temple of Jerusalem. During the High Imperial time, Commodus dressed and seen as Hercules is a sort of propaganda to his own power, how he viewed himself, as well as how others viewed him (while also being somewhat blasphemous to the legendary figure). Augustus’ armor, which shows victory over the Parthians, is another example of war-like propaganda. The enormous Ara Pacis Augustae displays many pieces of propaganda, and is a piece of propaganda itself, as it was created as devotion to the Pax Romana. The piece, Gemma Augustae, commemorates Augustus’ triumph over a barbarian tribe – another nod towards war / violence. The famous Colosseum itself was funded by spoils from the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE and was part of the “Bread and Circus” idea to try and keep people entertained and at peace. Most notably, there is Constantine himself, who is the most important Propaganda of the Christian religion, as he converted on his death bed.
There is so so much, and I’m sure there is more, but this is just some of the stuff I found in our museum.