1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910780324503321

Autore

Hedrick Charles W. <1956->

Titolo

History and silence : purge and rehabilitation of memory in late antiquity / / Charles W. Hedrick, Jr

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin : , : University of Texas Press, , 2000

ISBN

0-292-77937-2

0-292-79915-2

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxvi, 338 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

937

Soggetti

Inscriptions, Latin - Italy - Rome

Palimpsests - Italy - Rome

Memory - Social aspects - Italy - Rome - History

Monuments - Conservation and restoration - Italy - Rome - History

Elite (Social sciences) - Italy - Rome - Historiography

Forum of Trajan (Rome, Italy)

Rome Politics and government 284-476 Historiography

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-320) and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- CHAPTER 1 A PALIMPSEST -- CHAPTER 2 CURSUS AND CAREER -- CHAPTER 3 UNSPEAKABLE PAGANISM? -- CHAPTER 4 REMEMBERING TO FORGET The Damnatio Memoriae -- CHAPTER 5 SILENCE, TRUTH, AND DEATH The Commemorative Function of History -- CHAPTER 6 REHABILITATING THE TEXT Proofreading and the Past -- CHAPTER 7 SILENCE AND AUTHORITY Politics and Rehabilitation -- APPENDIX Concerning the Text of CIL 6.1783 -- NOTES -- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS -- SECONDARY WORKS CITED -- GENERAL INDEX -- INDEX LOCORUM

Sommario/riassunto

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 asserts, the Roman elite honored their ancestors while participating in profound social, cultural, and religious change.