The leaders of most modern countries exploit a powerful political tool - the power of images. These techniques, in fact, were invented thousands of years ago by the leaders of the Ancient World.

In other parts of the ancient world, however, many leaders had vast empires with many disparate conquered people to rule, and possessing fine jewelry was not enough to get their kingly message across. Darius the Great, King of the Persians, came up with the first art political logo, with Alexander the Great later expanding on the concept by imprinting his face on coins that flooded his empire. Augustus of Rome, forty years before Christ, fabricated the first political lie by creating a series of statute portraits that made him appear to be a man of the people, while ruthlessly exterminating the competition.

Around 500 BC, Darius the Great, the King of the Persians, had taken control of a kingdom so large that he needed to find a new way to impose his power across this vast territory. He found the solution in the international language of images -- Art. Decorating the staircase that lead to his great hall in the capital city of Persepolis (located in present-day Iran), Darius carved inspiring images of conquered peoples of the empire happily honoring their king with tribute, while interestingly omitting all scenes of war and retribution.

But there were still millions of subjects in the empire that never came to the palace, but needed to understand his message: "I am justice and have been asked by God to promote happiness."

Alexander the Great went one step further than Darius in developing the political logo. A brilliant military strategist, Alexander set his sights on capturing the Persian empire around 330 BC, and within a few short years defeated the Persian armies and captured Persepolis. As a foreign invader, Alexander knew he had to win the hearts and minds of his new subjects, and he clearly understood the power of the logo art technique used by Darius. But Alexander had to come up with his own image unique -- and he did, he minted his own face on a coin. He instinctively understood that the human face was a powerful tool, and that people were influenced by what they saw in it.

But Alexander's political portrait - something entirely revolutionary at the time - wasn't thought up over night. On the contrary, from a small ivory head of Alexander's found in his father's tomb, it became clear to archeologist that Alexander's image had been designed for him long before he ever went to war with the Persians.

Many leaders after Darius and Alexander used images to promote themselves and their message, but some of them were far darker and more sinister in nature. They took art from being a tool of relatively benign political promotion to an instrument of mass deception. The first political lie was probably invented in Rome, by Augustus, some forty years before the birth of Christ.

Rome was on the point of collapse; for decades a civil war had divided the city into two camps - the old Roman family republicans, and the monarchists, who wanted a powerful king to rule. Augustus came from the monarchists' camp, but in order to unite the city behind him, he knew he had to change his image.

Augustus reinvented himself through the use of art. His sculptors came up with an image that was far more humble, a sort of man of the people image, and it allowed him to unit the two camps of Rome. But it was all a lie - he had duped the citizen of Rome. In reality, Augustus founded a system of dictatorship that would last over four hundred years.

Clip from the Documentary: How Art Made the World - Episodes 3
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