This collection is independent of, but complements, previous publications on Roman memory (K. Galinsky [ed.], Memoria Romana: Memory in Rome and Rome in Memory [2014]; K. Galinsky [ed.], Memory in Ancient Rome and Early Christianity [2015]). Its genesis was a conference at Lampeter's University of Wales, Trinity St David, inspired by the Roderic Bowen Library Archive.
The theme of the volume is collective memory, particularly the ‘mnemonic power’ (p. 14) of objects and places within the ancient city of Rome. The collection's achievement is to utilise literary sources to enable the reader to visualise particular monuments and topographic details of the material city of Rome. This imagined materiality garnered from the literary sources, as well as some epigraphic and numismatic evidence, creates a multi-layered urban space full of monuments lost in the archaeological record. It therefore complements D.H.J. Larmour and D. Spencer (edd.), The Sites of Rome: Time, Space, Memory (2007) and, like that volume, reveals Rome the palimpsest in all its complexity. The contributors attempt to re-place particular monuments and events within the topography of the city, often painting vivid visual images. In their introduction, the editors note that ‘the literary evidence contains numerous variant traditions, many of which are simply incompatible with each other’ (p. 12); so it is unfortunate that the literary sources are at times taken at face value, thus weakening the foundations of the imagined city.
The introduction and eleven chapters, arranged broadly chronologically, are written by the three editors and by D. Briquel, D. Miller, A. Thein, L. Withycombe, L. Jones, J.R. Patterson, M.L. Caldelli and C. Ricci, and S. Orlandi. Each contributor takes a particular monument or theme and examines in detail the evidence for their subject, setting it in the broader context of the city, at different scales according to their topic. They present their chosen monuments through analysis of the literary sources and re-place them in a topographic setting. Largely absent from the volume is engagement with the archaeology of the city. Whilst I found this disappointing, it is clearly beyond the scope of what is a coherent volume, and impressively detailed in its use of the written and visual sources. For those readers with an interest beyond written sources, the volume is best read in conjunction with publications examining the archaeology and topography of the city, notably A. Carandini and P. Carafa (edd.), Atlante di Roma antica: biografia e ritratti della città (2013), D. Filippi, The Roman Forum. Origin and development of a Communitarian Space (2017) and D. Filippi (ed.), Different Perspectives in the Study of Ancient Urban Space (2017).
The editors’ introduction sets out clearly the aims of the volume and recognises the challenges faced in reconstituting the monuments of a city in constant flux, for which the evidence is limited and often contradictory. The collection begins with the monumentalisation of myth-memory (Horatius Cocles, Scaevola, Cloelia, Marsyus) in sculpture, taking us beyond Livy and into the material word of Roman memory. Whilst I found Briquel's use of lengthy extracts from her sources an impedance to her argument, she presents a detailed synthesis of statues of Rome's legendary figures, using the literary sources to extract their visual details and to replace them within the city's topography. This chapter is nicely complemented by S.’s on the statue of Marsyas, which draws extensively on work by M. Torelli and F. Coarelli. R. evaluates the evidence for the Camenae in relation to part of Rome's borderscape (S. Stevens, City Boundaries and Urban Development in Roman Italy [2017]), inviting us to imagine the material monuments and topography of the Porta Capena. This chapter in particular would benefit from reading alongside recent archaeological and topographical research, such as the Mapping the Via Appia project (http://mappingtheviaappia.nl) and chapters in I. Östenberg, S. Malmberg and J. Bjørnebye (edd.), The Moving City: Processions, Passages and Promenades in Ancient Rome (2015), but that is not to detract from its content or approach.
Miller focuses on architecture, using the case study of the Arch of Scipio Africanus to consider the motivations for erecting public monuments during the Republic. He sets the arch in its topographic context, the Area Capitolina, and touches on religious movement in urban space as a motivating function for the erection of this monument. G.M. also discusses urban topography, specifically the misuse of the Forum Romanum as expressed by Cicero in relation to political persecution and financial difficulties. Her primary focus is on auctions in the Forum and she leads us to specific monuments, their use and misuse, to illustrate her argument. An underlying theme of the chapter is Cicero's use of language to elicit emotions in his audience, and the interplay this has with the topography of the Forum.
Thein's contribution marks a shift in time period and use, as well as availability of evidence, as he considers the Augustan rebuilding of the Capitolium. Utilising literary, epigraphic, numismatic and archaeological evidence, Thein explores the relationship between the Augustan rebuilding of the Capitolium and the construction of the temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus and the development of the Palatine. Withycombe remains with the Area Capitolina and an Augustan restoration, focusing on the temple of Jupiter Feretrius and, like Thein, utilising numismatic evidence in addition to the written sources.
With Jones’ chapter the focus of the volume shifts from public monuments to the domestic and funerary spheres. Bourdieu's concept of ‘symbolic capital’ underpins her discussion of elite housing and how novi homines navigated the association between political and elite status by appropriating the memoria of previous owners of their property. This chapter stands out in its use of theory; and here we also lose the focus on specific monuments. Patterson pans out further with his survey of the persistence, or not, of republican aristocratic memories in the monumental landscape of the imperial period, ranging from Tiberius to Septimius Severus, and covering houses, public buildings, statues and tombs. The opening pages of his chapter provide a tidy summary of the preceding contents of the volume, and he draws out points of continuity and change in Rome's topography, which fit well with several of the earlier chapters.
Funerary monuments are an element of the chapters by Jones and Patterson, but the dominant subject of the penultimate chapter in the volume, by Caldelli and Ricci, who take the non-elite as their subject and use epigraphy to underpin their discussion of memorials. It is therefore surprising that V. Hope's work is entirely absent from their discussion. The authors tussle with the problematic term ‘middle class’ and eventually decide on pauper to define the subjects of their sample from CIL 6. This chapter is the most tenuous in terms of the themes of the volume, though solid in its own right. Orlandi's concluding chapter emphasises ruin and brings us to late-antique Rome, utilising epigraphy from that period to highlight the problems faced by scholars in recovering the monuments and collective memory of Rome.
This volume is ambitious in its temporal scope, presenting snapshots of the multi-layered memories of the city which were embodied in its monuments and architectural places. The book's contributors create vivid vignettes of the monumentality of Rome, utilising literary sources where the material culture is lost.
The book is well edited, respecting the individual voices of its authors, and nicely presented. Its being published as a high quality paperback makes this a more attractive and affordable volume than many.
