The Post-Mortem Sanctions Against the Emperor Domitian: A Study of the Literary, Epigraphic, and Physical Source

Abstract

Following his assassination in September of AD 96, Domitian was penalized with post-mortem memory sanctions. These kind of sanctions are often portrayed by both modern scholars and ancient historians as being implemented relatively uniformly in all of the cases of emperors who were subject to these sanctions. This applies both to the actual body of sanctions which were implemented by the senate, and the enthusiasm with which the populace followed them. While there is some commonality in the levying of sanctions between all condemned individuals, it is important to understand the differences between them in order to comprehend how each was viewed in his own time. In the case of Domitian, the senate punished him with heavy sanctions, and the people obeyed them. However, there is not the same evidence of mob violence against his images by the people, which would prove a dislike for him outside of the political elite. By investigating the evidence for these sanctions in the ancient literary sources, as well as the physical evidence from both inscriptions and sculpted likenesses, a more clear picture than previously presented can be created of the public perception of his reign.

Also, this thesis evaluates the kind of messages that Nerva wanted to send by the way in which he condemned Domitian. Nerva’s history as loyal to the Flavians seems to conflict with his succession on the same day as the murder and the sanctions he put in place against his predecessor. The way in which he chose to deal with the memory of his predecessor is demonstrative of his successful attempt at distancing himself from the previous dynasty. Therefore, a study of the sanctions can both provide information about the perception of the condemned, which has since been lost, and also illustrate the policies of the next regime.