Published : 2026-06-01

Damnatio memoriae During the Reign of Septimius Severnus: The Case Study of Plautianus

Daria Janiszewska-Sieńko

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7110-7337

Abstract

This historical study focuses on the damnatio memoriae of the prefectus praetorio Fulvius Plautianus during the reign of emperor Septimius Severus (193–211 AD), whose name was erased from monuments erected in the Roman Empire: the Arch of Septimius Severus in the Forum Romanum and the Arch of Argentarii in the Forum Boarium, both in Rome. The author attempts to reconstruct the way Plautianus’ image was destroyed. Using narrative sources – Cassius Dion, Herodian and Historia Augusta – to reconstruct the circumstances of the prefect’s downfall, the author presents those elements of condemnation and ousting of Plautianus from the public space of the Roman Empire, aimed at denigrating him and improving the image of the ruling dynasty. The author shows that, despite the scarcity of sources, it is possible to try to reconstruct the power and meaning of damnatio memoriae.

Keywords:

damnatio memoriae, The Severans, Septimius Severus, Plautianus



Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf (Język Polski)

Altmetric indicators


Cited by / Share


Roczniki Humanistyczne · ISSN 0035-7707 | eISSN 2544-5200 | DOI: 10.18290/rh
© The Learned Society of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin & The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

Articles are licensed under a Creative Commons  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)