History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity

Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. First edition (stated). Octavo in gey and green illus DJ; xxvi, 338 p.: ill.; 24 cm; bibliographical references (p. [301]-320) and indexes. Fine in same DJ; No remainder marks. Some very faint edge-wear. Unread copy. Hardcover. ISBN: 0292731213

A lucid meditation on how late-antique societies manipulated collective recollection by erasing, reshaping, or ceremonially reinstating the memories of disgraced figures. Through close readings of inscriptions, legal texts, and ritual practices, it traces the tension between the impulse to purge unwanted pasts and the equally strong need to recuperate fragments of them when political circumstances shifted. The argument moves beyond the familiar framework of damnatio memoriae to show how silence itself became an instrument of power, a means by which communities negotiated legitimacy, lineage, and identity in moments of transition. | Inscriptions, Latin -- Italy -- Rome. Palimpsests -- Italy -- Rome. Memory -- Social aspects -- Italy -- Rome -- History. Monuments -- Italy -- Rome -- Conservation and restoration -- History. Elite (Social sciences) -- Italy -- Rome -- Historiography. Inscriptions latines -- Italie -- Rome. Palimpsestes -- Italie -- Rome. Mémoire -- Aspect social -- Italie -- Rome -- Histoire. Monuments -- Conservation et restauration -- Italie -- Rome -- Histoire. Élite (Sciences sociales) -- Italie -- Rome -- Historiographie. Romeinse keizertijd. Openbaar leven. Gedachtenis. Inscripties. Latijn. Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus, ca. 334-394. Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus, ca 334-394. Forum of Trajan (Rome, Italy) Rome -- Politics and government -- 284-476 -- Historiography. Forum de Trajan (Rome, Italie) Rome -- Politique et gouvernement -- 284-476 -- Historiographie.