Roman Cancel Culture
Summary
Mary Beard and Charlotte Higgins explore Roman "cancel culture," arguing that the term damnatio memoriae is a modern simplification of a messy, improvised process of erasing the dead. They examine the case of Gnaeus Piso, whose memory was sanitized by destroying his house and wax masks, and discuss how emperors like Nero were recarved into successors like Vespasian. The hosts highlight that these acts often made figures more memorable, as seen in the gouged face of Geta, and note that such erasures were frequently driven by local pragmatism rather than central decree.
Topics discussed
Introduction to Exploring the Odyssey and background
Physical erasure: chiseling names and sinking busts
Ancient Rome vs. modern cancel culture and statue wars
Examples from Greece and Egypt; lack of fixed rules
The Senate's role in deciding an emperor's legacy
Private memory, tombstones, and identity
Case study: The detailed erasure of Gnaeus Piso
Removing Piso from Germanicus's statue and Nero's fate
Improvized reasons for erasure and the case of Geta
Piso's architectural legacy and the taboo on names
Cicero's house and the Roman preoccupation with homes
Restoring Mark Antony's name to official records
How erasures make figures more memorable (Geta's face)
Visual erasures on the Arch of the Argentarii
Recycling statues: Chiseling Nero into Vespasian
Pragmatic reuse of stone in Britain (Carausius)
Enforceability of erasure and local governance
Modern parallels: Statues in Ukraine and flux
Conclusion: Memory as a work in progress
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