The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political Culture (Studies in the History of Greece and Rome) - Hardcover

"This is an outstanding book. The phenomenon of memory sanctions has long needed proper treatment, and Flower's study is most welcome for anyone interested in the Graceo-Roman world. This book represents a major advance in scholarship." - Michael Peachin, New York University"

Elite Romans periodically chose to limit or destroy the memory of a leading citizen who was deemed an unworthy member of the community. Sanctions against memory could lead to the removal or mutilation of portraits and public inscriptions. Harriet Flower provides the first chronological overview of the development of this Roman practice - an instruction to forget - from archaic times into the second century C.E. Early memory sanctions were employed by political families in an effort to preserve their social standing or limit the embarrassment caused by a disgraced relative. Bans in the Late Republic, however, turned into punitive measures used against political rivals. By the imperial period, emperors imposed postmortem disgrace in attempts to control elite dissent or its image, but they could also become subject to such posthumous sanctions themselves. Flower explores Roman memory sanctions against the background of Greek and Hellenistic cultural influence and in the context of the wider Mediterranean world. Combining literary and legal texts, art and archaeology, this richly illustrated study provides a deeper understanding of Roman political culture.