The Arch of Constantine, next to the Colosseum in Rome, was dedicated to Emperor Constantine in AD 315. But most of its sculpture was carved long before he was born, around AD 272, and on the round hunting scenes, Hadrian's face was recut into Constantine's.

• ✓Archaeology (AIA), "A Monumental Imperial Biography"
• ✓Encyclopaedia Romana, "Arch of Constantine"
• ✓Rose 2021, JRA 34
• ✓Elsner 2000, PBSR 68
• ✓Eutropius 8.5
• ✓Wikipedia "Arch of Constantine"

This arch next to the Colosseum was built for Emperor Constantine. But most of the carvings on it were made before he was born. Look closer. The round hunting scenes up top are graceful and lifelike. The band of carving just below them is stiff and squat. The stiff band was carved for Constantine. The graceful pieces were taken from monuments to earlier emperors: Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. And in the hunting scenes, Hadrian's face was chiseled down and recut into Constantine's. Some historians call it a shortcut. Others say he wanted to look like Rome's best emperors. So Constantine's victory arch is mostly secondhand, and the hunter up there is two emperors in one face. Subscribe for a fact every day.