Just how legendary are the works included in the "Roman Art from the Louvre" exhibition opening today at the Indianapolis Museum of Art? Open a textbook of Roman art, and you'll find pieces from this exhibit.

"These pieces are out of the permanent collection, so it's not as though (Louvre staff) took pieces out of the basement that they didn't feel were worthy to put on view in their own museum, dusted them off and sent them over here for the Americans," said Jamie Higgs, an assistant professor of art history at Marian College who specializes in classical and medieval art.

"These are well-renowned pieces."

The 184 works include iconic Roman art such as statues, busts and reliefs, but also glass vessels, military decorations, frescoes, mosaics, sarcophagi and everyday objects like furniture. Louvre officials say their goal in selecting the art works was a comprehensive view of Roman life.

"We tried to give people an idea of what could be Roman art all along the centuries," said Daniel Roger, curator from the Musee du Louvre in Paris overseeing the installation. "This was possible by displaying a lot of things of different times . . . but also choosing a thematic approach for the exhibition. We've tried to show many aspects of Roman life."

The bulk of the works have been in the Louvre collection for 200 years or more, and have never been displayed in the U.S. before. After leaving the IMA, the exhibition will stop at the Seattle Art Museum and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The IMA exhibit, which cost $1.5 million, was funded through a grant from the Lilly Endowment and was also supported by Chase Bank.

The exhibit is expected to bring in a large number of visitors throughout its run, which ends Jan. 6. Museum officials say they've fielded visit inquiries from college art classes all across the Midwest.

"Any museum in the world would be transformed by having an exhibition of this scope and importance -- the largest the Louvre has ever sent overseas," IMA director and CEO Maxwell Anderson said. "It is one of the most comprehensive surveys of Roman art ever to travel. It is, in terms of the quality of the material, first-rate."

Martin Krause, IMA's curator of the Roman art exhibit, says it's the most significant art he's overseen in his 30-year career.

"Rome has been part of our popular culture for so long," Krause said, pointing to sword-and-sandal film epics and the History Channel. "People know who Augustus is, his wife Olivia and Caligula. Even the personalities are well-known. The Romans wrote a lot about themselves."

Higgs agrees, adding that comparisons between Rome and modern Western culture are not new. She plans to give a lecture Oct. 25 on similarities between the Roman Empire and the U.S.

"There's so much that they hold for us -- the good, the bad and the ugly," Higgs said. "They are pretty much the same people that we are today. I think it's with the Romans that we realize the people of the ancient world are just humans. It's maybe a little harder to realize that with the Greeks or the Egyptians, because we don't know as much about their human side."

In keeping with Louvre tradition, where "the confrontation with the objects is part of the pleasure," Krause said most of the pieces will not be displayed behind glass or barriers. Busts are displayed at eye level, monumental statues sit near ground level, while reliefs are mounted up high as the Romans intended them to be viewed. A few of the more delicate objects will be enclosed in glass.

One interesting aspect is that, unlike the Greeks, who tended to idealize the human form, the Romans tried to accurately depict their subjects, flaws and all.

"Portraits are very sensitive and very crucial in Roman art," Roger said. "If you saw a portrait of a Roman emperor, you could cross him in the street and recognize him."

In addition to enhancing the reputation of the IMA, the Roman art exhibit will also influence the Louvre itself.

Until now, the Paris museum displayed Roman art works according to type -- the busts together, a room full of large statues, etc. When these art works eventually return to the Louvre, they'll be arranged thematically, as they will be in the IMA.

"Their intention is to reinstall their gallery more along the lines of the way American museums do it -- contextualized," Krause said.

"In many ways, the Louvre designed this exhibition because of the way they anticipate reinstalling their own space."

From the trove, three must-sees

Here are three examples from the Roman art exhibit at the IMA you don't want to miss:

Portrait of Lucilla

Nicknamed "Lucy" by museum staff, this imposing 5-foot-tall, 3,200-pound sculpture greets visitors at the entrance to the exhibit. This is the head piece of a larger marble portrait of Annia Lucilla, wife of Emperor Lucius Verus, that adorned the basilica of Carthage, the most important city in Roman Africa. It was discovered in 1845, and dates to the second half of the second century.

Portrait of Augustus Wearing a Toga

Augustus was crowned the first emperor of Rome in 27 B.C., and this portrait is believed to have been completed around A.D. 10, toward the end of his reign. Though Augustus respected democratic traditions of the old Roman Republic, his rule was influenced by Greek monarchy. The head of this statue was discovered in Velletri, Italy, in 1777.

Fragment of a Relief of a Double Suovetaurilia Sacrifice

This marble relief from the first half of the first century depicts the sacrifice of a pig, a ram and a bull. The figure on the right with a veiled head is the emperor himself, acting as priest to carry out the rite. Suovetaurilia sacrifices were traditionally dedicated to Mars, the Roman god of war.