damnatio memoriae

Damnatio memoriae was a Roman practice where the Senate could officially condemn a person's memory, effectively erasing them from public record. This involved removing statues and inscriptions, and any mention of the condemned individual was forbidden.1

This practice was most commonly applied to emperors who were deemed tyrannical or whose reigns were considered disastrous. For example, Nero was the first emperor to suffer damnatio memoriae after his reign ended ignominiously. The Senate would often alter existing statues by recutting the features or replacing the head, leaving visible signs of the erasure that served as a reminder of the individual's disgrace. This practice highlights how Roman imperial politics involved not only power during life but also the control of historical memory after death.231