The historical relief was as important an architectural member in important civic and religious structures as the triumphal arch, the column, the statue base, the temple and the altar. This portrayed, or rather narrated, military campaigns and victories, processions and sacrifices, in fine detail.

Unlike the Hellenes who drew on mythology to portray important moments in their civic life (for example, the metope sculptures of the Parthenon, showing battles with Amazons, Centaurs and Giants, have been interpreted as symbolizing their battles against the Persians) the Romans prized faithful realistic iconographic rendering of historical fact.
Even so, Hellenic art did influence the morphology of Roman historical relief; many scholars have detected the influence of the Parthenon frieze in Ara Pacis frieze, the altar to Peace at Rome. It shows the inauguration ceremony for the monument following Augustus' victorious campaign in Gaul and Spain (13 B.C.), as well as the procession of Roman dignitaries and priests with Augustus himself and members of the imperial family. The classicism of the frieze and the simplicity and clarity of its figures are due to the fact that the work was executed by Hellene artists.

The earliest historical relief on Hellenic soil is the monument of the Roman general Aemilius Paulus at Delphi. A long frieze with scenes from the battle of Pydna (168 B.C.) runs round the upper section of a tall rectangular base, on top of which was an equestrian statue of Aemilius. The monument was carved by Hellene craftsmen, and was originally intended for Perseus, the defeated king of Macedon.

Of great importance is the frieze of the great altar honouring the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus at Ephesus. The altar was dedicated to their victory over the Parthians (161-5 A.D.). The frieze bears crowded compositions, scenes of sacrifice, battle, and triumph. The overall conception of the monument may have been Roman, but the dominant technique is Hellenic, in the tradition of the school of Pergamum, which maintained its influence over Ephesus even in the Imperial Age.

The bas-reliefs on the triumphal arch erected by the emperor Galerius at Thessaloniki show the emperor's Persian campaign of (296 A.D.). The symmetry, and hierarchy of the figures' proportions, the depiction of battle scenes - all betray a distinctly Hellenic technique. The details are kept separate by decorative elements, and in the central scene the dominant figure of Galerius is the keystone of the picture's pyramidic layout. Numerous craftsmen from different regions would have worked on this Roman monument, unparallelled in the East.