Note: Roman names can be quite long, and well-known figures of Roman history are sometimes known in English by shorter, anglicized names: for example, Marcus Tullius Cicero is now almost always known in English as "Cicero" (though a few hundred years ago he might have been referred to as "Tully"). In certain cases, the full Latin name has been included (where that is known) of each individual, followed in parentheses by the name by which he is commonly referred to in English.

Almost nothing is known about the lives of any artists or artisans working in the Roman world. The situation is not much better for most Greek artists, but for certain figures such as Pheidias (chief sculptor of the Parthenon) some details about his life beyond his works are known. Many Roman monuments visible today were, however, unsigned and unascribed, and much of the work involved...