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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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H I S TO RY A N D S I L E NC E
HISTORY AND SILENCE P U RG E A N D R E H A B I L I TAT I O N O F M E M O RY I N L AT E A N T I Q U I T Y Charles W. Hedrick Jr. U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S P R E S S , AU S T I N
Copyright 䉷 2000 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2000 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.
嘷 ⬁ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper). L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S C ATA L O G I N G - I N - P U B L I C AT I O N DATA
Hedrick, Charles W., 1956 – History and silence : purge and rehabilitation of memory in late antiquity / by Charles W. Hedrick. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-292-73121-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Inscriptions, Latin—Italy—Rome. 2. Palimpsests—Italy—Rome. 3. Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus, ca. 334 –394. 4. Forum of Trajan (Rome, Italy) 5. Memory—Social aspects— Italy—Rome—History. 6. Monuments— Italy—Rome— Conservation and restoration— History. 7. Elite (Social sciences)—Italy— Rome—Historiography. 8. Rome—Politics and government—284 –476 —Historiography. I. Title. cn535.h43 2000 937— dc21 99-29835 f r o n t i s : Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Lettere di giustificazione (1757)
F O R M Y FAT H E R
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations Preface
ix
xi
Acknowledgments c h a p t e r 1 A PA L I M P S E ST
xxv 1
c h a p t e r 2 C U R S U S A N D CA R E E R
6
c h a p t e r 3 U N S P E A K A B L E PAGA N I S M ?
37
c h a p t e r 4 R E M E M B E R I NG TO F O RG E T The Damnatio Memoriae 89 c h a p t e r 5 S I L E N C E , T R U T H , A N D D E AT H The Commemorative Function of History 131 c h a p t e r 6 R E H A B I L I TAT I NG T H E T E X T Proofreading and the Past 171 c h a p t e r 7 S I L E N C E A N D AU T H O R I T Y Politics and Rehabilitation 214 appendix
C O N C E R N I NG T H E T E X T O F C I L 6 . 1 7 8 3 Notes
259
List of Abbreviations
297
Secondary Works Cited General Index
301
321
Index of Passages Cited
331
247
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L I ST O F I L LU ST R AT I O N S
f r o n t i s . Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Lettere di giustificazione (1757) tav. 8. 1. CIL 6.1783. 2. Simulation and dissimulatio