History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity
Charles W. Hedrick
University of Texas Press, 2000 -
338 pages
The
ruling elite in ancient Rome sought to eradicate even the memory of
their deceased opponents through a process now known as damnatio
memoriae. These formal and traditional practices included removing the
person's name and image from public monuments and inscriptions, making
it illegal to speak of him, and forbidding funeral observances and
mourning. Paradoxically, however, while these practices dishonored the
person's memory, they did not destroy it. Indeed, a later turn of events
could restore the offender not only to public favor but also to
re-inclusion in the public record. This book examines the process of
purge and rehabilitation of memory in the person of Virius Nicomachus
Flavianus (?-394). Charles Hedrick describes how Flavian was condemned
for participating in the rebellion against the Christian emperor
Theodosius the Great--and then restored to the public record a
generation later as members of the newly Christianized senatorial class
sought to reconcile their pagan past and Christian present. By
selectively remembering and forgetting the actions of Flavian, Hedrick
argues, the Roman elite honored their ancestors while participating in
profound social, cultural, and religious change.
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