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Michael Hanaghan, Senior Research Fellow in Latin Christianity in Late Antiquity, Australian Catholic University

What was damnatio memoriae? How to get cancelled in Ancient Rome

Munzir Rosdi/Shutterstock

People throughout history have deliberately tried to forget corrupt or criminal leaders who offend the public’s sense of morality or justice. The term damnatio memoriae (“condemnation of memory”) describes this kind of deliberate forgetting in ancient times.

Damnatio memoriae refers to the deliberate political erasure of a person following their political failure and, usually, their death. It’s like a kind of post-mortem cancel culture.

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