Damnatio Memoriae

The evolution of Mankind has come of age and has always evolved at the cost of something or someone...certainly our kinds hasnt been the kindest of kinds in scripting the ages with what we now know as history. Many stories were written and many not penned...with those written also have been questioned on its authenticity and accuracy, leading us to believe that what is on paper is true forever and those who wrote it are no more. Normal beings projected as demi-gods and those who questioned the system laid to rest...this was the feeling when I came across this latin phrase which literally means "Damnation of Memory". When a Damnatio Memoria was issued, all historical references to that person were destroyed or erased and any statues or paintings of them were defaced beyond recognition forcefully so that it was impossible to even tell who they were or what they looked like (since it was such an important thing in those cultures to have people remember ones legacy).

When the word Truth comes to mind...I think of the following words - Ugly, Bare, Naked, Hurt, Lies, Hope, Eternal etc. As one can see these are not comfortable words and are a touch too heavy for anyone to deal with in their lives. Correct me if I am wrong...but we are more comfortable to keep the truth aside and deal like it wasnt there at all...the big 'White Elephant' in the room. Wonder how our history books were written...was it to please the people that something good always happened or hide what one wouldnt want to know of the past (all the same right...but its still a perspective).

The origin of this concept is again lost in eternal time and ironically (rather conveniently) has been tracked from the Roman Empire where the hunger for power and sworn secrecy gave birth to bitter foes right from the common man to any of the proclaimed Ceasers (not only Julius). Some say this was practiced to protect the sanity of the empire...according to me, it was done to hide the insanity behind any empire. Such a practice is still existing in todays world...imagine how may whistle-blowers fate are at stake or are on the edge of of a knife or with a gun to their heads. Imagine how many of them would have died with a secret held deep inside if upon revelation would have changed the course of our lives...but at what cost?

Truth has its forms and lessons that we can learn...hardest and toughest moments if strung together on a rope could swing the earth from each end fo the galaxy...such is the power. Imagine lost people, lost cities, lost secrets and lost moments...how much do we not know...how much has been deliberately hidden or ceased to exist...rather wiped out from the face of this earth. I feel that conspiracy theories have a certain origin and emerge from the need to know the unknown. Our lives have circulated amidst tweeked truth and a painted past...probably we arent ready to face the truth and bear the brunt of paying the price...which might be the heaviest yet! We sometimes refrain from our own reflections and refuse to look into the mirror and face our past...something we want to do away with at times...and I think its our own choice...which is not what I am against. What I am against is that when the same right has been in someone else's control or discretion (when things are not in our hand).

How much could we have lost, how much could we have gained...is an interesting debate which Id like to have from the readers...its a question we all would like to have a voice on. When I discovered this word on Wikipedia, I was apalled by the fact that there were so many instances of Damnatio Memoriae...every nation has a history of Damnatio Memoriae and in the age of e-world, there are lesser chances that we dont know anything...the only thing we dont know is the un-documented or un-scripted past. To give you an interesting head-start on this subject, read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae. On this note, Id like to leave you with a few lines to mull about:

He who once lived is no more

In pages and in the minds of men

To those who rob the sun's glory

Are those who ignite the king’s fury...

The Emperor Domitian Setting out, relief from the Cancelleria, Rome, 80-90 AD. The head of Domitian, the fourth figure on the left, was recarved as a portrait of his successor Nerva after Domitian suffered damnatio memoriae. On the left hand side of the panel are images of the gods Mars and Minerva. The Emperor is followed by the goddess Roma and the genius of the Roman Senate (a personification of that body). Source - http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/ARTH/arth200/politics/big_man.html