l paintings to implement ideology. Ancient Rome inherited arguments, already old, for the superiority of painting over any other form of communication to affect and manipulate an audience. Further, Romans embraced the idea that historical painting was at its most effective when it became the embodiment of what it represented, or, to use the terms preferred by Freedberg, when the sign becomes the living embodiment of what it signifies. (Ancient authors, for example, relish anecdotes describing portraits that profoundly affected spectators long after the death of their subjects.) Toward that end, Roman patrons became increasingly sophisticated about representational strategies and throughout the course of the Republic procured the most commanding examples possible. The evidence for Roman historical painting, commissioned by a cultured elite, suggests the force of a steady Hellenization of Roman artistic practice and reveals a mentality that welcomed the transmission of Rome's heritage by means of the conventions of another culture. The development of Roman historical painting also provided the ruling elite with new means to understand and propagandize its own conduct, which is just as important as the historical events themselves. The political structure of the Republic is integral to the role historical painting played in the patterning of Roman culture. The course of politics from the mid- to late Republic reveals a compelling impetus for the arts of self-promotion. Social prestige was indispensable to a Roman elite that exercised its control indirectly, through elections and assemblies. Competition for the high esteem of their fellow citizens proved intense among those Romans who had an overwhelming desire for laus, or praise, on one level and gloria on a higher one. During the Republic, gloria remained the exclusive province of the aristocracy, accorded by the political class to the elite for great deeds performed in the service of th...
