Ancient Memory Culture and its History in Research. Damnatio Memoriae (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the Ancient World, grade: 1,0, University of Heidelberg (Philosophische Fakultät), language: English, abstract: This paper will give an insight into the practice of the so-called "damnatio memoriae". Therefore, I would like to explain at the beginning the general handling of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire with their deceased, to subsequently show the origin of the memorial punishments and the term "damnatio memoriae". Based on some examples from the imperial house, the virtually archaeological part of the memorial punishments will be clarified. It should be shown which monuments were destroyed and reworked. Finally, these examples illustrate the theoretical concept of memorial punishments and the goals that have been pursued.

To investigate the question of the importance of remembrance and how to deal with the deceased in the Roman Empire, I have consulted various sources. Inscriptions as well as monuments and portraits, as well as modern ethnological and socio-cultural approaches were examined and pursued. Unfortunately, it became clear during my research that the various scientists were unable to agree on a uniform terminology or a way of dealing with the ancient remains. This lack of interdisciplinarity made the research difficult and painted a clear picture of the research landscape. A comprehensive publication dealing with both the archaeological findings and the socio-cultural component of "damnatio memoriae" is still missing. Although this was attempted in the beginning, most of the arising problems were ignored.

In this paper, I would therefore like to give an overview, not only about the findings and discoveries, but also about the state of research. Finally, I would like to try to address the issue of memorial punishment not just as an archaeologist, but also, by embedding the issue in our senior seminar, with a cultural-scientific approach.