Expertlatin
- What was damnatio memoriae in ancient Rome?
- What is damnatio memoriae?
- What was damnatio memoriae Caligula?
- When was damnatio memoriae used?
What was damnatio memoriae in ancient Rome?
In ancient Rome, the practice of damnatio memoriae was the condemnation of emperors after their deaths. If the Senate or a later emperor did not like the acts of an emperor, they could have his property seized, his name erased and his statues reworked (normally defaced).
What is damnatio memoriae?
Noun. (historical) Condemnation of memory: a posthumous punishment for traitors etc. in Ancient Rome by which they were effectively erased from history by having their works undone and any mention of their name forbidden.
What was damnatio memoriae Caligula?
Damnatio memoriae (“condemnation of memory”) was a punishment in ancient Rome for crimes against the dignity of the Roman people (crimen maiestatis). It consisted in erasing the convict from the memory of posterity, forbidding his descendants to bear his name and destroying all his images.
When was damnatio memoriae used?
Damnatio memoriae continued in the Roman world through the fourth century C.E., as seen in disfigured portraits of Constantine's rival Maxentius. With Christianity made official in the Roman world, vandalism of imperial portraits continued, but with more of a religious bent than a political one.
