<P> Metalwork was highly developed, and clearly an essential part of the homes of the rich, who dined off silver, while often drinking from glass, and had elaborate cast fittings on their furniture, jewellery, and small figurines . A number of important hoards found in the last 200 years, mostly from the more violent edges of the late empire, have given us a much clearer idea of Roman silver plate . The Mildenhall Treasure and Hoxne Hoard are both from East Anglia in England . There are few survivals of upmarket ancient Roman furniture, but these show refined and elegant design and execution . </P> <P> Few Roman coins reach the artistic peaks of the best Greek coins, but they survive in vast numbers and their iconography and inscriptions form a crucial source for the study of Roman history, and the development of imperial iconography, as well as containing many fine examples of portraiture . They penetrated to the rural population of the whole Empire and beyond, with barbarians on the fringes of the Empire making their own copies . In the Empire medallions in precious metals began to be produced in small editions as imperial gifts, which are similar to coins, though larger and usually finer in execution . Images in coins initially followed Greek styles, with gods and symbols, but in the death throes of the Republic first Pompey and then Julius Caesar appeared on coins, and portraits of the emperor or members of his family became standard on imperial coinage . The inscriptions were used for propaganda, and in the later Empire the army joined the emperor as the beneficiary . </P> <P> It was in the area of architecture that Roman art produced its greatest innovations . Because the Roman Empire extended over so great of an area and included so many urbanized areas, Roman engineers developed methods for city building on a grand scale, including the use of concrete . Massive buildings like the Pantheon and the Colosseum could never have been constructed with previous materials and methods . Though concrete had been invented a thousand years earlier in the Near East, the Romans extended its use from fortifications to their most impressive buildings and monuments, capitalizing on the material's strength and low cost . The concrete core was covered with a plaster, brick, stone, or marble veneer, and decorative polychrome and gold - gilded sculpture was often added to produce a dazzling effect of power and wealth . </P> <P> Because of these methods, Roman architecture is legendary for the durability of its construction; with many buildings still standing, and some still in use, mostly buildings converted to churches during the Christian era . Many ruins, however, have been stripped of their marble veneer and are left with their concrete core exposed, thus appearing somewhat reduced in size and grandeur from their original appearance, such as with the Basilica of Constantine . </P>

In which form of art were the romans most innovative