IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 526: Damnatio memoriae: Reform, Renewal, and Rhetorics of Legitimation in Late Antiquity
Tuesday 7 July 2015, 09.00-10.30
| Sponsor: | Centre for Antique, Medieval & Pre-Modern Studies (CAMPS), National University of Ireland, Galway |
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| Organiser: | Christopher Doyle, Department of History, National University of Ireland, Galway |
| Moderator/Chair: | Mark Humphries, Department of History & Classics / Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Research, Swansea University |
| Paper 526-a | An Accidental Damnatio memoriae?: Concealed Imperial Standards from 4th-Century Rome (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Numismatics, Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric |
| Paper 526-b | Figuratio memoriae: Reading Exempla in Ammianus Marcellinus's Imperial Necrologies (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric |
| Paper 526-c | Damnatio memoriae or Creatio memoriae?: Memory Sanctions as Creative Processes in the 4th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - General, Art History - General, Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric |
| Paper 526-d | Obliterate, Reinsert, Repeat? Two Cases of Damnatio memoriae in Late Antiquity, 392-408 (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - General, Art History - General, Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric |
| Abstract | The Roman practice of damnatio memoriae, literally the condemnation or obliteration of memory, was a process by which individuals who were deemed state enemies (usually emperors or senior officials) suffered denigration of reputation, name erasure from public inscriptions, portraiture defacement or remodelling, or legal invalidation of their acts. Damnatio memoriae typically occurred in the aftermath of civil war or political upheaval. Ultimately, the process was designed to construct legitimacy for the victors of such conflicts.This session explores some of the diverse ways which damnatio memoriae was used for propagandist purposes (both negative and positive) by successive Late Roman imperial administrations in order to achieve political renewal, legitimacy, and reform. |