Epigraphy Seminar 08
AEC 02/16
Taught MA - Epigraphy
Seminar 8 - Inscriptions and memory sanctions
The negative treatment of monuments of various sorts offers one coherent angle from
which to approach the whole idea of reinventing the past and manipulating memory. The
idea of rewriting the past by making an impact upon the monumental landscape is
nothing new. The instinct to destroy the physical manifestations of a political regime that
has been rejected goes back to ancient times, with the earliest known examples probably
being those linked to the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, c.1550-1300 BC. Nevertheless,
we should not assume that the impulse to reinvent the past by altering the historical
record can be explained in the same way for different cultures. Nor are memory sanctions
just political in nature. There is a tendency for all such actions to be dubbed as instances
of damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory), an invented term imputed to the
Romans, but this perhaps implies a false uniformity of purpose. The classical world is
rich in examples of the erasure of names from inscriptions and coins, the alteration and
destruction of portrait statues, even the destruction of disgraced individuals’ houses and
the prohibition on the display of ancestral wax masks. The area of Memory studies is
currently a vibrant area for research, and you may also find it interesting to engage with
the theoretical approaches to memory in journals such as Memory Studies.
Please choose one of the areas below, and focus on one or two case-studies that you
encounter in your reading. We shall, of course, focus upon inscriptions, but please range
more widely so as to look at portraits and coins for comparison. These questions are
designed to give you a starting-point for your analysis:
 Why were inscriptions erased? What is the purpose of erasure?
 How does the erasure of inscribed texts compare with the damage inflicted on
other media, such as coins and statues?
 What were the mechanisms for memory sanctions? Were they centrally organized
and implemented by the state or resulting from popular impetus?
 How thorough was the programme of destruction? Was the condemned party
completely obliterated, or was the disgrace visibly recorded?
 How might someone’s memory be rehabilitated?
Please prepare a 15-minute presentation. Feel free to work together presenting different
cae-studies on a section below.
We shall also consider the following questions after the individual presentations:
 Is damnatio memoriae a useful concept?
 Can the practice of erasing inscriptions be understood in the same way for
different societies?
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Epigraphy Seminar 08
AEC 02/16
General bibliography
Benoist, S. and Daguet-Gagey, A. eds (2007) Mémoire et histoire. Les procédures de
condamnation dans l’Antiquité romaine (Centre Régional Universitaire
Lorrain d’Histoire Site de Metz 31: Metz) [not in Wwk Lib]
Benoist, S. and A. Daguet-Gagey, eds (2008) Un discours en images de la condemnation
de mémoire (Centre Régional Universitaire Lorrain d’Histoire Site de
Metz 34: Metz) [not in Wwk Lib]
@Cahiers Centre Glotz: Condamnations et damnations: approches et modalités de
réécriture de l’histoire = CCG 14 (2003) + CCG 15 (2004)
Carroll, M. (2006) Spirits of the Dead pp.79-80, 118ff, 190ff
@Connerton, P. (2008) ‘Seven types of forgetting’, Memory Studies 1,1: 59-71
Cooley, A.E. (2012) Cambridge Handbook of Latin Epigraphy
*Flower, H.I. (2006) The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political
Culture [DG 211.F5]
Thomas, R. (1989) Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens (CUP) ch.1,
esp. pp.50ff [PA 273.T4]
Thomas, R. (1992) Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece (CUP) ch.7 esp pp.137ff
[PA 273.T4]
Coins
@Hostein, A. (2004) ‘Monnaie et damnatio memoriae: problèmes méthodologiques’,
CCG 15: 219-36
Howgego, C. (1995) Ancient History from Coins 71f
Statues
Gregory, A. (1994) ‘Powerful images; responses to portraits and the political uses of
images in Rome’, JRA 7: 80-99
@Kiilerich, B. ‘Defacement and replacement as political strategies in ancient and
Byzantine ruler images’
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bente_Kiilerich2/publications
Stewart, P. ‘The destruction of statues in late antiquity’ in R. Miles, ed. Constructing
Identities in Late Antiquity 159-89
Stewart, P. (2003) Statues in Roman Society 267-98
Varner, E. (2004) Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman
imperial portraiture [NB 164.V2]
Varner, E. (2000) ed. From Caligula to Constantine : Tyranny and Transformation in
Roman Portraiture esp. chapter by H.I. Flower ‘Damnatio Memoriae and
Epigraphy’
A. Classical Athens
Andrewes, A. (1976) ‘Androtion and the Four Hundred’, PCPhS 22: 14-25
@Boegehold, A.L. (1990) ‘Andocides and the decree of Patrokleides’, Historia 39: 14962
@Clinton, K. (1982) ‘The Late Fifth-Century Revision of the Athenian Law-Code’,
Hesperia suppl. 19: 27-37
@Fingarette, A. (1971) ‘A new look at the Wall of Nikomachos’, Hesperia 40: 330-35
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Epigraphy Seminar 08
AEC 02/16
Flower, H.I. (2006) The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political
Culture [DG 211.F5] ch.2
Thomas, R. (1989) Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens (CUP) ch.1,
esp. pp.50ff
Thomas, R. (1992) Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece (CUP) ch.7 esp pp.137ff
B. Roman emperors (eg Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Geta)
Elsner, J. (2005) ‘Sacrifice and narrative on the arch of the argentarii at Rome’, JRA 18:
83-98
Flower, H.I. (2006) The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political
Culture [DG 211.F5] chs 6, 8-9
Gregory, A. (1994) ‘Powerful images; responses to portraits and the political uses of
images in Rome’, JRA 7: 80-99
Pailler, J-M. and Sablayrolles, R. (1994) ‘Damnatio memoriae: une vraie perpétuité’,
Pallas 40, Les années Domitien 11-53
Varner, E. (2004) Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman
imperial portraiture [NB 164.V2]
Varner, E. (2000) ed. From Caligula to Constantine : Tyranny and Transformation in
Roman Portraiture esp. chapter by H.I. Flower ‘Damnatio Memoriae and
Epigraphy’
C. Roman imperial women (eg Messalina, Agrippina, Julia Mamaea)
Flower, H.I. (2006) The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political
Culture [DG 211.F5] ch 6-7
Gregory, A. (1994) ‘Powerful images; responses to portraits and the political uses of
images in Rome’, JRA 7: 80-99
Varner, E. (2004) Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman
imperial portraiture [NB 164.V2]
Varner, E. (2000) ed. From Caligula to Constantine : Tyranny and Transformation in
Roman Portraiture esp. chapter by H.I. Flower ‘Damnatio Memoriae and
Epigraphy’
Wood, S. (1992) ‘Messalina, Wife of Claudius: Propaganda Successes and Failures of
his Reign’, JRA 5: 219-34
@Wood, S. (1988) ‘Memoriae Agrippinae: Agrippina the Elder in Julio-Claudian Art and
Propaganda’, AJA
D. Roman elite (eg Antony; Cornelius Gallus; Piso; Plautianus; Nicomachus
Flavianus)
@Bodel, J. (1999) ‘Punishing Piso’ AJPhil 120.1: 43-63
Cooley, A.E. (2011) ‘Inscriptions and History at Rome’ Oxford History of Historical
Writing vol. 1 (eds A. Feldherr and G. Hardy) [D13.O9 Vol.1]
Flower, H.I. (2006) The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political
Culture [DG 211.F5] chs 3-6
Hedrick, C.W. (2000) History and Silence. Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late
Antiquity (University of Texas Press, Austin) [partly on Google books]
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