The Ara Pacis Augustae, or Altar of Augustan Peace, was built to commemorate the return to Rome of the emperor Augustus and his general Agrippa, who had been away for many years on military campaigns. Dedicated in 9 B.C., the monument consists of an altar and surrounding wall, both decorated with a series of processional friezes.

Art historians and archaeologists have made the Ara Pacis one of the best-known, most-studied monuments of Augustan Rome; its friezes, though fragmented with age, remain one of the best existing examples of Augustan relief sculpture.

Conlin questions the long-held assumption that the friezes' sculptors were anonymous Greek masters, directly influenced by the reliefs carved on the Parthenon. Through close analysis of the sculptures, Conlin demonstrates that the carvers of the large processional friezes were actually Italian-trained sculptors influenced by both native and Hellenic stonecarving practices.

Her conclusions rest on a systematic examination of the evidence left on the marble by the sculptors themselves - the traces of tool marks, the carving of specific details, and the compositional formulas of the friezes.