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Oxbow says: From the third century BC to the 2nd century AD, the Roman sphere of influence and military power grew on an unprecedented scale and war gradually became an accepted part of everyday life. This collection of ten essays examines the representation of war in visual and literary forms, rather than from a historical or purely military perspective. Drawing on a wide range of sources including buildings, paintings, sculpture, coins and reliefs, the contributors often cite evidence which is less obviously related to war, artefacts which are more suggestive than explicit. Authors explore the glorification of war, the recording of battles narratives, the display of booty, methods of commemoration, dedication, self-advertisement and promotion, propaganda and state ideologies. Together, the essays reveal not only what various representations say about war and how attitudes towards it changed, but what they say about the Romans themselves, how they viewed their past and saw their future.