Damnatio memoriae of Domitian (AD 96)

Bust of Domitian, Capitoline Museums (MC 1156). After his death the Senate ordered images like this to be destroyed. An image related to the event, not a record made at the time.

Right after the assassination, senators tore down the shields and portraits of the dead emperor in full view of everyone and decreed that his name be removed from inscriptions throughout the state. Dio adds that the gold and silver statues were melted down and the arches erected in his honor were demolished. Scholars call such an erasure of memory by the Latin term damnatio memoriae.

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  • Image: Livioandronico2013 (photo), 2014, Musei Capitolini, Rome (MC 1156); Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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