Building the Past: Monuments and Memory in the Forum Romanum

Abstract

Memory played a crucial role in the shaping of Late Roman political consciousness and identity. This is clear in the case of the city of Rome, where political, religious, and social transformations affected the way that the city’s inhabitants defined their relationship between themselves and with the imperial court. The area of the forum Romanum was intimately related to Rome’s history, and was therefore particularly appropriate for the construction of different ‘Roman memories’. The aim of this article is to discuss how the monuments built or restored in this area helped to define these memories and turn the past into a political argument.