A seminar on Roman Imperial Art and the metanarratives and conceptual frameworks that have shaped its study over the past 120 years. Topics include: the problem of style/form and the transformation of Roman art during the first four centuries of our era; Roman "classicism"; "propaganda" and the function of "state monuments" and "official" art; the figure of the "viewer" in archaeological scholarship; spolia and "damnatio memoriae"; historical commemoration. Monuments under discussion will include the Ara Pacis, Triumphal Arches, Columns of Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius, Roman "Historical Reliefs."