Large numbers of statues were erected in the cities of Imperial Rome. They proliferated in squares and public buildings, allowing the people to contemplate daily the figures of divinities, heroes, emperors and illustrious men. Sculptures were not only erected for purely aesthetic reasons, instead they played an important role in maintaining the political and social order of the Roman Empire.

Within a city, some public buildings contained more statues than others. This was the case of the temples or buildings dedicated to leisure and entertainment, such as theatres, libraries, thermal baths and nymphae.

The most appropriate place for erecting statues was the Forum, the administrative and commercial heart of the town.

In Tarragona the finds of statues have been made in the area between the Circus and the port, coinciding with the location of specific public buildings such as the Theatre, the City Forum and the schola of the collegium fabrum. Almost nothing remains from the upper part of Tarraco, the area reserved for the Provincial Council, where the greatest number of statues would have been located. This is no doubt due to the successive destruction over the centuries of the Roman constructions in that part of the city.