Lectures, talks and seminars

Classics Museum old Kirk 526 (OK526)

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Description

A simple equation explains much of the importance of memory in the ancient world: to be remembered is to survive, even after death, and the easiest way to be assured of memory is to obtain glory.

However, the achievement of glory is problematic and amnesia, too, appears to be a viable strategy during the early Roman Empire. This flies in the face of the exemplarity of ancient historical writing, designed to be literary monimenta to match visual counterparts in public places. Some emperors are particularly prone to oblivio (Claudius and Vitellius: Ann. 11.38.4, Hist. 3.63.2), while the column raised to celebrate Caesennius Paetus’ non-victory over the Parthians (Ann. 15.18.1) is a permanent reminder of the deliberate erasure of historical outcomes. Yet while it may be relatively easy to suppress public utterances, memory cannot be consciously controlled in the way voices may be (memoriam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus, si tam in nostra potestate esset oblivisci quam tacere: Agr. 2.3). This paper examines a few examples of reverse memorialisation in Tacitus and indicates the historiographical tropes and social strategies behind them.


Speaker Bios

Arthur Pomeroy is Professor of Classics at the Victoria University of Wellington, the author of several books and numerous papers on Tacitus and ancient historiography.


For more information contact: Prof. Jeff Tatum

jeff.tatum@vuw.ac.nz 04 463 5846