Memory and Commemoration

The funerary monument, according to Roman legal sources, was designed to preserve memory (monumentum est, quod memoriae servandae gratia existat).1 It also acted as a visual indicator of the status of a person and of the splendour and antiquity of that person’s family. The form and size of the monument itself, and the written text on it, made it possible to display and negotiate status, belonging, and social relations in the community. But was a permanent stone monument the only way to preserve the memory of an individual? Cicero, in his speech honouring Servius Sulpicius Rufus, claimed that, although memorials and commemorative statues preserved memory, one’s accomplishments could also ‘be a memorial to a life of enduring renown’.3 Great deeds, rank, and accomplishments were something to be ‘handed on as a memorial to succeeding generations’.4

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