View source for Damnatio memoriae

{{Short description|Exclusion of a person from official records and accounts}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
[[File:Portrait of family of Septimius Severus - Altes Museum - Berlin - Germany 2017.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Severan Tondo]]'', {{c.|199{{spaces}}AD}} [[tondo (art)|tondo]] of the [[Severan dynasty|Severan family]], with portraits of [[Septimius Severus]], [[Julia Domna]], and their sons [[Caracalla]] and [[Geta (emperor)|Geta]]. The face of one of Severus' and Julia's sons has been erased; it may be Geta's, as a result of the {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} ordered by his brother Caracalla after Geta's death.]]

'''{{lang|la|Damnatio memoriae}}''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|damˈnaːti.oː mɛˈmɔri.ae̯}}) is a modern [[Latin]] phrase meaning "condemnation of memory" or "damnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Hedrick | first1=Charles W. | title=History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity | date=January 2010 | publisher=University of Texas Press | isbn=978-0-292-77937-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VhfAgAAQBAJ&dq=damnatio%20memoriae&pg=PA1 }}</ref> There are and have been many routes to {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} including the destruction of depictions, the removal of names from inscriptions and documents, and even large-scale rewritings of history.

== Etymology ==
Although the term {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} is [[Latin]], the phrase was not used by the ancient Romans, and first appeared in a [[thesis]] written in [[Germany]] in 1689 by Christoph Schreiter and Johann Heinrich Gerlach.<ref name="Omissi2018">{{Cite book |last=Omissi |first=Adrastos |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWliDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire: Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy |date=28 June 2018 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-255827-5 |page=36}}</ref> The thesis was titled ''Dissertationem juridicam de damnatione memoriae, praescitu superiorum, in florentissima Philurea'' (lit. "A Legal Dissertation on the Damnation of Memory, Foreknown by Superiors, in the Most Flourishing Philurea").<ref name="Omissi2018" />''

== Ancient world ==
[[File:Römermuseum Osterburken (DerHexer) 2012-09-30 008.jpg|thumb|left|{{lang|la|Damnatio memoriae}} of [[Commodus]] on an inscription in the Museum of Roman History [[Osterburken]]. The abbreviation "CO" was later restored with paint.]]
Today's best known examples of ''damnatio memoriae'' from antiquity concern chiselling stone inscriptions or deliberately omitting certain information from them.

=== Ancient Mesopotamia ===
According to [[Stefan Zawadzki]], the oldest known examples of such practices come from around 3000–2000 BC. He cites the example of [[Lagash]] (an ancient city-state founded by the [[Sumer]]ians in southern [[Mesopotamia]]), where preserved inscriptions concerning a conflict with another city-state, [[Umma]], do not mention the ruler of Umma, but describe him as "the man of Umma". Zawadzki sees this as an example of deliberate degradation of the ruler of Umma to the role of an unworthy person whose name and position in history the rulers of Lagash did not want to record for posterity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zawadzki |first=Stefan |author-link=Stefan Zawadzki |url=https://przystanekhistoria.pl/pa2/tematy/polityka-historyczna/36430,Damnatio-memoriae-w-europejskiej-kulturze-politycznej.html |title=Damnatio memoriae w europejskiej kulturze politycznej |date=2011 |publisher=IPN |isbn=978-83-61336-45-7 |editor-last=Gałaj-Dempniak |editor-first=Renata |language=pl |trans-title=Damnatio memoriae in European political culture |chapter=Puścić w niepamięć, zachować złą pamięć: władcy w asyryjskich inskrypcjach królewskich w pierwszym tysiącleciu przed Chr. |trans-chapter=Letting go, keep a bad memory: rulers in Assyrian royal inscriptions in the first millennium BC. |editor-last2=Okoń |editor-first2=Danuta |editor-last3=Semczyszyn |editor-first3=Magdalena}}</ref>

=== Ancient Egypt ===
[[File:KV55 sarcophagus (Cairo Museum).jpg|thumb|upright|Coffin believed to belong to [[Akhenaten]] found in Tomb [[KV55]], with the face obliterated]]

Egyptians also practiced this,<ref name="Wilkinson 2011">{{Cite journal |last=Wilkinson |first=Richard H. |author-link=Richard H. Wilkinson |date=1 January 2011 |title=Controlled Damage: The Mechanics and Micro-History of the Damnatio Memoriae Carried Out in KV-23, the Tomb of Ay |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jeh/4/1/article-p129_6.xml |journal=Journal of Egyptian History |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=129–147 |doi=10.1163/187416611X580741 |issn=1874-1665|url-access=subscription }}</ref> as seen in relics from pharaoh [[Akhenaten]]'s tomb and elsewhere. Akhenaten's sole worship of the god [[Aten]], instead of the traditional [[Ancient Egyptian deities|pantheon]], was considered heretical. During his reign, Akhenaten endeavoured to have all references to the god [[Amun]] chipped away and removed.<ref name="Amun">{{Cite web |last=Jarus |first=Owen |date=24 July 2014 |title=Egyptian Carving Defaced by King Tut's Possible Father Discovered |url=https://www.livescience.com/46978-egyptian-carving-discovered.html |access-date=6 January 2021 |website=[[Live Science]]}}</ref> After his reign, temples to Aten were dismantled and the stones reused to create other temples. Images of Akhenaten had their faces chipped away, and images and references to Amun reappeared. The people blamed their misfortunes on Akhenaten's shift of worship to [[Atenism]], away from the gods they served before him.<ref name="Heretic">{{Cite book |last=Redford |first=Donald |author-link=Donald B. Redford |title=Akhenaten: The Heretic King |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-691-03567-3 |pages=170–172}}</ref> Other Egyptian victims of this practice include the pharaohs that immediately succeeded Akhenaten, including [[Smenkhkare]], [[Neferneferuaten]], and [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]].<ref name="Wilkinson 2011" /> The campaign of ''damnatio memoriae'' against Akhenaten and his successors was initiated by Ay's successor, [[Horemheb]], who decided to erase from history all pharaohs associated with the unpopular [[Amarna Period]]; this process was continued by Horemheb's successors.<ref name="CarneyMüller2020">{{Cite book |last1=Carney |first1=Elizabeth D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJb-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT64 |title=The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World |last2=Müller |first2=Sabine |date=9 November 2020 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-78398-2 |page=64}}</ref> [[Tutankhamun]] was also erased from history in this way, even though he had restored Egypt to the Amun god, because he was one the kings who succeeded Akhenaten; he may also have been Akhenaten's son.

=== Ancient Greece ===
[[File:Honours for Phaedrus of Sphettus (IG II3 1 985 = IG II2 681) part 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|Part of an honorific decree for [[Phaedrus of Sphettus]], passed in 259/8 BC. The lines mentioning Phaedrus' interactions with the Antigonids were chiselled out as part of the ''damnatio memoriae'' of 200 BC.]]

The practice was known in Ancient Greece.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Callataÿ |first=François De |author-link=François de Callataÿ |title=Celebrity, Fame, and Infamy in the Hellenistic World |date=18 May 2020 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4875-3178-2 |pages=90–110 |language=en |chapter=4. Remelted or Overstruck: Cases of Monetary Damnatio Memoriae in Hellenistic Times? |doi=10.3138/9781487531782-008 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781487531782-008/html |s2cid=234432435}}</ref> The [[Ancient Athens|Athenians]] frequently destroyed inscriptions which referred to individuals or events that they no longer wished to commemorate.{{sfn|Low|2020|pp=239-243}} After [[Timotheus (general)|Timotheus]] was convicted of treason and removed from his post as general in 373{{spaces}}BC, all references to him as a general were deleted from the previous year's naval catalogue.{{sfn|Low|2020|p=246}} The most complete example is their systematic removal of all references to the [[Antigonids]] from inscriptions in their city, in 200{{spaces}}BC when they were besieged by the Antigonid king [[Philip V of Macedon]] during the [[Second Macedonian War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Byrne |first=S. G. |title=Philathenaios : studies in honour of Michael J. Osborne |date=2010 |publisher=Hellēnikē Epigraphikē Hetaireia |isbn=9789609929707 |editor-last=Tamis |editor-first=A. |location=Athēnai |pages=157–177 |chapter=The Athenian damnatio memoriae of the Antigonids in 200 B.C. |editor-last2=Mackie |editor-first2=C.J. |editor-last3=Byrne |editor-first3=S. G.}}</ref> One decree praising [[Demetrius Poliorcetes]] (Philip V's great-grandfather) was smashed and thrown down a well.{{sfn|Low|2020|p=240}}

After [[Herostratus]] set fire to the [[Temple of Artemis]], one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|Seven Wonders of antiquity]], the people of [[Ephesus]] banned the mention of his name.<ref>{{cite web | title=Herostratus: The man who destroyed an ancient wonder of the world | date=26 September 2023 | url=https://bigthink.com/the-past/temple-artemis-herostratus-destroyed-ancient-world-wonder/ }}</ref>

At [[Delphi]], an honorific inscription erected between 337 and 327 BC for [[Aristotle]] and his nephew [[Callisthenes]], two philosophers who were closely associated with the [[Ancient Macedon|Macedonians]], were smashed and thrown in a well after the death of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander of Macedon]] in 323{{spaces}}BC.{{sfn|Low|2020|p=240}}

=== Ancient Rome ===
[[File:1366 - Inscription for Geta (198-209 AD) - Museo Archeologico, Cagliari - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, November 11 2016.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Erased mention of [[Geta (emperor)|Geta]] in an inscription after his {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} ([[Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari]])]]
[[File:Sejanus Damnatio Memoriae.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Sejanus|Lucius Aelius Sejanus]] suffered {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} following a failed conspiracy to overthrow emperor [[Tiberius]] in AD{{spaces}}31. His statues were destroyed and his name obliterated from all [[public records]]. The above coin from [[Augusta Bilbilis]], originally struck to mark the consulship of Sejanus, has the words ''L. Aelio Seiano'' obliterated.]]
In ancient Rome, the practice of {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} was the condemnation of [[List of Roman Emperors|emperors]] after their deaths. If the Senate or a later emperor did not like the acts of an emperor, they could have his property seized, his name erased and his statues reworked (normally defaced).<ref>Harriet I. Flower, The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace & Oblivion in Roman Political Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 2006).</ref>

Compounding this difficulty is the fact that a completely successful {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} results—by definition—in the full and total erasure of the subject from the historical record. In the case of figures such as emperors or consuls it is unlikely that complete success was possible, as even comprehensive obliteration of the person's existence and actions in records and the like would continue to be historically visible without extensive reworking. The impracticality of such a cover-up could be vast—in the case of [[Geta (emperor)|Emperor Geta]], for example, coins bearing his [[Effigy#Other types|effigy]] proved difficult to entirely remove from circulation for several years, even though the mere mention of his name was punishable by death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geta: The One Who Died |url=http://dougsmith.ancients.info/geta.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203213839/http://dougsmith.ancients.info/geta.html |archive-date=3 December 2010}}</ref>

Difficulties in implementation also arose if there was not full and enduring agreement with the punishment, such as when the Senate's condemnation of [[Nero]] was implemented—leading to attacks on many of his statues<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Russell |first1=Miles |last2=Manley |first2=Harry |year=2013 |title=Finding Nero: shining a new light on Romano-British sculpture |journal=Internet Archaeology |issue=32 |doi=10.11141/ia.32.5 |doi-access=free}}</ref>—but subsequently evaded with the enormous funeral he was given by [[Vitellius]]. Similarly, it was often difficult to prevent later historians from "resurrecting" the memory of the sanctioned person.

The impossibility of actually erasing memory of an emperor has led scholars to conclude that this was not actually the goal of ''damnatio''. Instead, they understand ''damnatio'':
{{blockquote|not so much as an attempt to obliterate memory entirely as to transform honorific commemoration into a form of visible denigration. That is: the power of an act of damnatio relies, at least in part, on the viewer of a monument being able to supplement the gaps in an inscription with their own knowledge of what
those gaps had once contained, and the reasons why the text had been removed|[[Polly Low]], "Remembering, Forgetting, and Rewriting the Past"{{sfn|Low|2020|page=245}}}}{{Anchor|List of condemned Roman emperors}}These emperors are known to have been erased from monuments:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandys |first=John |author-link=John Sandys (classicist) |title=Latin epigraphy: an introduction to the study of Latin inscriptions |publisher=[[Cambridge UP]] |year=1919 |pages=232}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Emperor
! Reign
! Notes
|-
| [[Caligula]]
| 37–41
| Disputed whether per senate decree<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Gizewski |first=Christian |title=Damnatio memoriae: Historisch |date=1 October 2006 |work=Der Neue Pauly |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/der-neue-pauly/*-e310400 |access-date=4 September 2022 |publisher=Brill |language=de |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_dnp_e310400 |s2cid=244835165|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edoardo Bianchi |date=2014 |title=Il senato e la "damnatio memoriae" da Caligola a Domiziano |url=https://doi.org/10.7381/77974 |journal=Politica Antica |issue=1 |pages=33–54 |doi=10.7381/77974 |issn=2281-1400}}</ref>
|-
| [[Nero]]
| 54–68
| ''hostis iudicatio'' (posthumous trial for treason)<ref name=":0" />
|-
| [[Domitian]]
| 81–96
| per senate decree (96)<ref name=":0" />
|-
| [[Commodus]]
| 177–192
| per senate decree (192)<ref name=":0" />
|-
| ''[[Clodius Albinus]]''
|
| ''[[Roman usurper|Usurper]]''
|-
| [[Geta (emperor)|Geta]]
| 209–211
| per his brother Caracalla
|-
| [[Macrinus]]
| 217–218
| ''Usurper''
|-
| [[Diadumenian]]
| 217–218
| ''Usurper''
|-
| [[Elagabalus]]
| 218–222
|
|-
| [[Severus Alexander]]
| 222–235
| Only during the reign of Maximinus Thrax
|-
| [[Maximinus Thrax]]
| 235–238
| per senate decree (238)<ref name=":0" />
|-
| [[Gaius Julius Verus Maximus|Maximus I]]
|
| ''Caesar only''
|-
| [[Philip the Arab]]
| 244–249
|
|-
| [[Philip II (emperor)|Philip II]]
| 247–249
| Philip the Arab's son
|-
| [[Decius]]
| 249–251
|
|-
| [[Herennius Etruscus]]
| 251
| Decius' son
|-
| [[Hostilian]]
| 251
| Decius' son
|-
| [[Aemilianus]]
| 253
|
|-
| [[Gallienus]]
| 253–268
|
|-
| [[Aurelian]]
| 270–275
| Briefly
|-
| [[Probus (emperor)|Probus]]
| 276–282
|
|-
| [[Carus]]
| 282–283
|
|-
| [[Carinus]]
| 284–285
|
|-
| [[Numerian]]
| 283–284
|
|-
| [[Diocletian]]
| 284–305
|
|-
| [[Maximian]]
| 286–305
| per senate decree (310)<ref name=":0" />
|-
| [[Galerius]]
| 305–311
|
|-
| [[Valerius Severus]]
| 306–307
|
|-
| [[Maximinus II]]
| 308–313
| per senate decree (313)<ref name=":0" />
|-
| [[Maxentius]]
| 306–312
|
|-
| [[Licinius]]
| 308–324
|
|-
| [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]]
| 337–340
|
|-
| [[Constans]]
| 337–350
|
|-
| ''[[Magnentius]]''
|
| ''Usurper''
|-
| [[Magnus Maximus]]
| 383–388
|
|}

== Middle Ages ==
[[File:Sala de Maggior Consiglio Dandolo and Falier.jpg|thumb|250x250px|The [[Doge of Venice]] [[Marino Faliero]]'s portrait (right) was removed and painted over with a black shroud as {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} for his attempted coup. The shroud bears the Latin phrase, "This is the space for Marino Faliero, beheaded for crimes."]]
In the Middle Ages, [[heresiarch]]s could have their memory condemned. The [[Council of Constance]] decreed the {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} of [[John Wycliffe]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Article |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/DoctorVirtualis/article/download/147/260 |access-date=31 May 2020 |publisher=riviste.unimi.it}}</ref>

The practice of replacing [[pagan]] beliefs and motifs with Christian, and purposefully not recording the pagan history, has been compared to {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strzelczyk |first=Jerzy |author-link=Jerzy Strzelczyk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAxKAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Damnatio+memoriae%22+Boles%C5%82aw+Zapomniany |title=Od Prasłowian do Polaków |date=1987 |publisher=Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza |isbn=978-83-03-02015-4 |pages=60 |language=pl |trans-title=From Proto-Slavs to Poles}}</ref>

In her book ''Medici Women - Portraits of Power, Love and Betrayal'', Gabrielle Langdon also presents compelling evidence concerning a probable ''damnatio memoriae'' issued against [[Isabella de' Medici]], a prominent female figure of the 16th century Renaissance Medici court.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Langdon |first=Gabrielle |title=Medici Women – Portraits of Power, Love and Betrayal |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8020-9526-8 |pages=146}}</ref>

== Americas ==
=== Ancient Maya ===
Several apparent ''damnatio memoriae'' incidents occurred within the [[Maya civilization]] during the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Classic period]] (AD 250–900) as a result of political conflicts between leaders of the local kingdoms.

One notable incident occurred in the kingdom of Paʼ Chan (modern-day [[Yaxchilan]], [[Mexico]]) in the middle of the 8th century. In June 742, the ''k'uhul [[ajaw]]'' (Holy Lord, i.e. king) of Pa' Chan, [[Itzamnaaj Bahlam III]], died after a 60-year-long rule, during which he turned his kingdom into one of great riches after a large number of military campaigns which were recorded and illustrated on multiple high-quality [[Maya stelae|stelae]], [[lintel]]s and [[Maya script|hieroglyphic]] steps of temples which he dedicated to his military success (e.g. Temple 44) and his family (e.g. Temple 23). Though he had a son who eventually ascended to the throne after his death, there was a mysterious decade-long ''[[interregnum]]'' period in which Pa' Chan did not record the existence of any king. Itzamnaaj Bahlam's son, [[Yaxun Bʼalam IV]], also known as Bird Jaguar IV, ascended to the throne in April 752, nearly ten years after his father's death.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2008">{{Cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Simon |author-link1=Simon Martin (Mayanist) |title=Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens |last2=Grube |first2=Nikolai |author-link2=Nikolai Grube |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-500-28726-2 |edition=2nd |pages=119, 123–130}}</ref>

This ''interregnum'' period may be explained by a text from the nearby northern kingdom of Yokib (modern-day [[Piedras Negras (Maya site)|Piedras Negras]], [[Guatemala]]). Panel 3 of this city, largely regarded as one of the most beautiful pieces of [[Mayan art]], was carved approximately in 782 and illustrates an episode of the reign of [[Itzam Kʼan Ahk II]] (also known as Pawaaj Kʼan Ahk II), in which he celebrated his first ''[[kʼatun]]'' (period of 7200 days) as king, on 27 July 749. Panel 3 claims that the celebration "was witnessed by Sak Jukub Yopaat Bahlam, Holy Lord of Paʼ Chan." Also known as Yopaat Bahlam II, this mysterious ruler does not appear anywhere else in the historical record, not even in his supposed homeland. Moreoever, his respectful presence at a celebration in Yokib, Paʼ Chan's centuries-old and bitter rival (which had, in fact, scored a victory in battle against Itzamnaaj Bahlam III in 726), as well as the depiction of Itzam Kʼan Ahk apparently addressing a speech (now hardly readable, but probably involving an event of Paʼ Chan's past) toward a party from Paʼ Chan—which included his son and "heir to the throne" of Paʼ Chan (''chʼok paʼchan ajaw''), Sihyaj Ahkteʼ—, possibly indicate that he ruled as a vassal of Itzam Kʼan Ahk, or that he used the celebration as an opportunity to ask for Itzam Kʼan Ahk's support against Yaxun Bʼalam IV, his political rival.<ref name="García Juárez & Bernal Romero 2019">{{Cite journal |last1=García Juárez |first1=Sara Isabel |last2=Bernal Romero |first2=Guillermo |year=2019 |title=El Panel 3 de Piedras Negras. Historias desafiantes y recuerdos ignominiosos |trans-title=Panel 3 of Piedras Negras. Challenging stories and disgraceful memories |url=https://www.academia.edu/39216073 |journal=[[Arqueología Mexicana]] |language=es |volume=XXVI |issue=156 |pages=72–83 |issn=0188-8218 |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref> This has led to the conclusion that if this man truly ruled Paʼ Chan, any records of his existence were destroyed during the reign of Yaxun Bʼalam IV, who notoriously led a massive propaganda campaign throughout his rule to claim legitimacy over the throne, which involved the rewriting of his kingdom's dynastic history and restoration of several historical records of previous kings. The immense texts writing Yaxun Bʼalam's own version of his kingdom's dynastic history may have been carved over existing records which would have been intentionally erased with [[plaster]], possibly destroying the records of the king (or kings) of the ''interregnum''.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2008" />

It is possible Yopaat Bahlam and his son lived the rest of their lives in exile at Yokib, and that the "heir to the throne" never rose to power. Yopaat Bahlam may have been buried in Burial 13 of the city, judging from a text carved on four ''[[Spondylus]] [[Spondylus limbatus|limbatus]]'' shells found within it which bears his name and mentions that he had previously visited the city in January 747, also within the ''interregnum''.<ref name="García Juárez & Bernal Romero 2019" />

=== New Spain ===
{{See also|Mexican Inquisition}}
[[File:Petroglifo de Moctezuma Xocoyotzin.jpg|thumb|The Chapultepec portrait of Moctezuma II, made in 1519 and intentionally damaged in the middle of the 18th century, is the only surviving Chapultepec portrait of a Mexica monarch.]]

Notorious incidents of ''damnatio memoriae'' occurred during the existence of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]], the [[Spanish colony]] that emerged after the [[Spanish conquest of Mexico]] in 1521. Various [[List of viceroys of New Spain|viceroys]] ordered the destruction of monuments and documents depicting certain episodes of [[pre-Columbian]] [[Mesoamerica]]n history and rebels to Spanish rule over the Americas.

For instance, [[Moctezuma I]] (not to be confused with his more famous great-grandson [[Moctezuma II]]), 15th-century ''[[Tlatoani|huei tlahtoani]]'' (Great Speaker, i.e. emperor) of the ''Excan Tlahtoloyan'' ({{lit}} Triple Capital),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Herrera Meza |first1=María del Carmen |last2=López Austin |first2=Alfredo |last3=Martínez Baracs |first3=Rodrigo |year=2013 |title=El nombre náhuatl de la Triple Alianza |trans-title=The Nahuatl name of the Triple Alliance |url=https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0071-16752013000200002 |journal=Estudios de cultura náhuatl |language=es |volume=46 |pages=7–35 |issn=0071-1675 |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref> known by historians as the Mexica or [[Aztec Empire]] (also known as the Aztec Triple Alliance, whose inhabitants referred to themselves as Culhua-Mexica), ordered the creation of a portrait of himself and of his military and political advisor [[Tlacaelel]] at [[Chapultepec]], a historically and naturally important site which nowadays is within [[Mexico City]]. This became a tradition among subsequent Mexica rulers, and portraits of [[Axayacatl]] and [[Ahuitzotl|Ahuizotl]], two of Moctezuma's successors, were also made throughout the rest of the century ([[Tizoc]]'s absence may be explained by his sudden death from poisoning). Moctezuma II would create the last portrait of this kind in 1519 (which {{harvtxt|Hajovsky|2015|p=118}} believes might be "the last Aztec monument"), at the eve of the Spanish conquest.

[[Antonio de León y Gama]], a distinguished Mexican intellectual, wrote in the late 18th century that these portraits were well preserved up until that century. León y Gama claimed that the only portrait he got to see himself was Moctezuma II's, before its destruction was ordered by the authorities in 1753 or 1754. He mentioned that Axayacatl's portrait still existed earlier in that century before it was "broken up and removed." Indeed, the remains of Moctezuma's portrait, approximately 2 meters (over 6 feet) high, reveal that its damage was not accidental or natural. It was carved on pink-to-gray [[andesite]], which is "slightly harder than [[marble]]," according to Hajovsky. The markings in the damaged parts show that apparently its destruction was executed with the dropping of a boulder, and that deep holes were drilled "perhaps in order to pry the stone apart or blow it up."

In another notorious instance, Spanish [[bishop]] [[Juan de Zumárraga]] ordered the destruction of a portrait depicting [[Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani)|Nezahualcoyotl]], king of [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], on 7 July 1539, along with various other sculptures at the Hill of [[Texcotzingo]] "in a manner such that they would no longer be remembered".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hajovsky |first=Patrick Thomas |title=On the Lips of Others: Moteuczoma's Fame in Aztec Monuments and Rituals |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-292-76668-6 |location=[[Austin, Texas]] |pages=IX, 1, 118–119, 136 |doi=10.7560/766686}}</ref>

During the [[Mexican War of Independence]], which started in 1810, one of the earliest revolutionary leaders, [[Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla]], nowadays remembered as a [[national Hero]], was executed by the Spanish authorities in 1811. After his execution, according to contemporary accounts, the authorities declared a ''damnatio memoriae''. According to one of Hidalgo's soldiers, Pedro García (1790–1873), "the fierce war against Hidalgo's memory and his ideas" was done through strict censorship.
{{blockquote|It became illegal to speak about Hidalgo anywhere, it became a great crime that was severely punished. This is the reason why no portrait which resembles him at all is found anywhere in the country, since the prohibition lasted nearly ten years. Nobody felt safe speaking inside their homes.}}

The Spanish efforts to erase his memory, however, were in vain. The War of Independence continued, and the leaders who continued to revolution after Hidalgo's death made great efforts to commemorate his legacy. [[José María Morelos]], for example, declared in 1813 that 16 September, the anniversary of the beginning of the war, would be celebrated every year "remembering always the merit of the great Hero [[Don (honorific)|Don]] Miguel Hidalgo and his partner Don [[Ignacio Allende]]."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brenes Tencio |first=Guillermo |year=2010 |title=Miguel Hidalgo a la luz del arte: iconografía del héroe nacional — Padre de la Patria mexicana (siglos XIX y XX) |trans-title=Miguel Hidalgo under the light of art: iconography of the national Hero—Father of the Mexican Nation |url=https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/kanina/article/view/704 |journal=Káñina. Revista de Artes y Letras |language=es |publisher=[[University of Costa Rica]] |volume=XXXIV |issue=2 |pages=53–71 |issn=0378-0473 |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref>

== Similar practices in modern times ==
{{Multiple image
| image1 = St Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class - Feb 1897.jpg
| alt1 =
| image2 = St Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class - Feb 1897 - Altered.jpg
| border = thumb
| perrow = 1/1
| total_width = 200
| footer = Alexander Malchenko, an [[League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class|early socialist]] revolutionary, removed due to his support of [[Julius Martov|J. Martov]]
}}

{{Multiple image
| image1 = Nikolai Yezhov with Stalin and Molotov along the Volga–Don Canal, orignal.jpg
| alt1 =
| image2 = Stalin and Molotov along the Volga–Don Canal, Nikolai Yezhov removed.jpg
| border = thumb
| perrow = 1/1
| total_width = 200
| footer = [[Nikolai Yezhov]] was posthumously removed from pictures after his 1940 execution
}}


While complete {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} has not been attempted in modern times—naming or writing about a person fallen from favour has never been made subject to formal punishment—there are several examples of less total {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} in modern times.

===Soviet Union===
====During the Soviet period====
{{Main|Censorship of images in the Soviet Union}}

In the [[Soviet Union]], photos were retouched to remove individuals such as [[Leon Trotsky]],<ref name="Kohonen2017">{{Cite book |last=Kohonen |first=Iina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbirDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA135 |title=Picturing the Cosmos: A Visual History of Early Soviet Space Endeavor |date=1 July 2017 |publisher=Intellect Books |isbn=978-1-78320-744-2 |pages=135–137}}</ref> [[Nikolay Yezhov]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 September 1999 |title="The Commissar Vanishes" in ''The Vanishing Commissar'' |url=http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanishes/vanishes.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208193919/http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanishes/vanishes.htm |archive-date=8 February 2007 |access-date=30 September 2012 |website=The Newseum}}</ref> and even [[Stalin]].<ref name="HydenSheckels2016">{{Cite book |last1=Hyden |first1=Carl T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYpCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |title=Public Places: Sites of Political Communication |last2=Sheckels |first2=Theodore F. |date=14 January 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-0726-4 |page=14}}</ref> After Stalin ordered the murder of [[Grigory Kulik]]'s wife Kira Kulik-Simonich, all photographic records of her were destroyed; although she was described as very pretty, no photographs or other images of her survive.<ref>Joseph Abraham, (2020) ''Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander to Hitler to the Corporation'', Hidden Hills Press, p. 147 {{ISBN|9780578680590}}.</ref> Following their fall from favour, [[Lavrentiy Beria]] and others were removed from articles in the ''[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hIN1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=The Materiality of Text – Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity: Placement, perception, and presence of inscribed texts in classical antiquity |date=22 October 2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-37943-5 |editor-last=Petrovic |editor-first=Andrej |pages=2–3 |editor-last2=Petrovic |editor-first2=Ivana |editor-last3=Thomas |editor-first3=Edmund}}</ref> 

The graphic designer [[David King (graphic designer)|David King]] had a strong interest in Soviet art and design, and amassed a collection of over 250,000 images. His most striking examples of before-and-after alterations were published as ''[[The Commissar Vanishes]]''.

====''Damnatio memoriae'' of the Soviet Union in post-Communist countries====
Following the [[Revolutions of 1989|fall of communism]] in Eastern Europe, many communist statues, particularly of Lenin and Stalin, were removed from former Soviet satellite states.<ref name="Nead1999">{{Cite book |last=Nead |first=Lynda |author-link=Lynda Nead |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxqsdMaCpHkC&pg=PA47 |title=Law and the Image: The Authority of Art and the Aesthetics of Law |date=August 1999 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-56953-6 |pages=47–}}</ref> Following a 2015 decision, a process of [[decommunization in Ukraine]] successfully dismantled all 1,320 statues of [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] after its independence, as well as renaming roads and structures named under Soviet authority.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilford |first=Greg |date=20 August 2017 |title=Ukraine has removed all 1,320 statues of Lenin |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/lenin-statues-removed-soviet-union-russia-crimea-ukraine-bolshevik-communist-petro-poroshenko-volodymyr-viatrovych-viktor-yanukovych-a7903611.html |access-date=8 October 2020 |work=The Independent}}</ref>


=== Poland ===
19th century Polish writers often omitted mentioning two kings from the list of Polish monarchs, [[Bezprym]] and [[Wenceslaus III of Bohemia]], which has resulted in their being omitted from many later works as well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mroziewicz |first=Karolina |date=2020 |title=Same Kings, Different Narratives: Illustrated Catalogues of Rulers of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=856864 |journal=Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung |language=English |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=27–67 |issn=0948-8294}}</ref>

=== China ===
The treatment of Chinese politician [[Zhao Ziyang]] following his fall from grace inside the [[Chinese Communist Party]] is regarded as another modern case of {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gerard |first=Bonnie |title=Damnatio Memoriae in China: Zhao Ziyang Is Laid to Rest |url=https://thediplomat.com/2019/11/damnatio-memoriae-in-china-zhao-ziyang-is-laid-to-rest/ |access-date=15 November 2019 |website=thediplomat.com |publisher=The Diplomat}}</ref>

The major painting ''[[The Founding Ceremony of the Nation]]'' has been modified several times as individuals depicted have fallen from political favour or been rehabilitated.<ref>{{cite web | title=Smarthistory – Dong Xiwen, the Founding of the Nation | url=https://smarthistory.org/dong-xiwen-founding-nation/ }}</ref>

=== Germany ===
The destruction of all copies of ''[[The Victory of Faith]]'' in order to erase [[Ernst Röhm]] is considered an act of [[Nazi]] ''damnatio memoriae''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Álvarez |first=Jorge |date=19 November 2019 |title="La victoria de la fe", el documental propagandístico del nazismo que Hitler mandó destruir |url=https://www.labrujulaverde.com/2019/11/la-victoria-de-la-fe-el-documental-propagandistico-del-nazismo-que-hitler-mando-destruir |access-date=17 December 2021 |work=La Brújula Verde |language=es |quote=se aplicó una damnatio memoriae sobre el fallecido mandatario y, dado que salía en bastantes escenas de La victoria de la fe, se ordenó la destrucción de todas las copias existentes}}</ref> In the end, two copies survived: one preserved in London and one preserved by the Communist government of East Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trimborn |first=Jürgen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ql_FeGlS2oIC&q=%22Der%20Sieg%20des%20Glaubens%22&pg=PP142 |title=Leni Riefenstahl: A Life |date=2008 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4668-2164-4 |language=en |access-date=12 April 2020}}</ref>

=== North Korea ===
In December 2013, [[Jang Song-thaek]] was abruptly accused of being a [[counter-revolutionary]] and was stripped of all his posts, expelled from the [[Workers' Party of Korea]] (WPK), arrested and executed. His photos were removed from official media and his image [[Photo manipulation|digitally removed]] from photos with other North Korean leaders.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 2013 |title=Der retuschierte Onkel |url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/wie-nordkorea-kims-onkel-chang-song-taek-wegretuschiert-a-938118.html |access-date=10 December 2013 |work=Der Spiegel |location=Hamburg}}</ref>
<!--The material regarding Spain is not to be readded without addressing the concerns raised on the talk page and getting consensus to add the material. Simply assuming bad faith and putting it back isn't going to cut it. --->

=== United Kingdom ===
An instance of ''damnatio memoriae''-esque policy instituted without governmental decree occurred in the aftermath of the [[Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal]]. Following extensive accusations of sexually abusing underage, disabled, and dead individuals, various public institutions in the United Kingdom took extensive measures to remove posthumous relics of Savile's public presence.<ref name="Rohrer 2012">{{Cite news |last=Rohrer |first=Finlo |date=1 November 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Erasing the memory |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20165466 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250117173805/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20165466 |archive-date=17 January 2025 |access-date=26 March 2025 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |ref=Rohrer 2012}}</ref> This included taking down monuments and memorials to Savile<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Katie |date=13 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile removed from Great North Run history |url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/communities/newcastle/2012/10/13/jimmy-savile-removed-from-great-north-run-history-72703-32025062/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023232826/http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/communities/newcastle/2012/10/13/jimmy-savile-removed-from-great-north-run-history-72703-32025062/ |archive-date=23 October 2012 |access-date=13 October 2012 |work=[[Evening Chronicle]] |location=Newcastle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jeeves |first=Paul |date=9 October 2012 |title=Council orders removal of Jimmy Savile tribute |url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/350965/Council-orders-removal-of-Sir-Jimmy-Savile-tribute |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202180109/http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/350965/Council-orders-removal-of-Sir-Jimmy-Savile-tribute |archive-date=2 February 2014 |access-date=10 November 2012 |work=Daily Express |location=London}}</ref> (including his headstone),<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile's headstone removed from Scarborough cemetery |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19893373 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060407/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19893373 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |access-date=14 October 2012 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=10 October 2012 |title=Savile's headstone removed by family |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1010/breaking3.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106054033/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1010/breaking3.html |archive-date=6 November 2012 |access-date=14 October 2012 |newspaper=The Irish Times |location=Dublin}}</ref> rechristening locations and awards previously named after him,<ref name="BBC17oct2012">{{Cite web |date=17 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile cafe renamed at Stoke Mandeville |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-19974841 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060354/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-19974841 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |access-date=25 February 2018 |website=BBC News}}</ref> dissolving charity organizations named after him,<ref name="bbc-news-jimmy-savile-charities-have-no-future">{{Cite news |date=23 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile charities have no future, say trustees |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20001588 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326115408/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20001588 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |access-date=23 October 2012 |work=BBC News}}</ref> and suppressing episodes of television and radio shows which featured or explicitly referenced him.<ref name="Rohrer 2012" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2 November 2012 |title=BBC axes Jimmy Savile 'Top of the Pops' reruns |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a435261/bbc-axes-jimmy-savile-top-of-the-pops-reruns.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106114523/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a435261/bbc-axes-jimmy-savile-top-of-the-pops-reruns.html |archive-date=6 November 2012 |access-date=13 September 2013 |work=Digital Spy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 January 2013 |title=BBC receives 216 complaints for Tweenies Jimmy Savile spoof |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-21108337.amp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407113233/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-21108337.amp |archive-date=7 April 2022 |access-date=16 October 2021 |work=BBC News}}</ref> In the immediate aftermath of the scandal, BBC News reporter Finlo Rohrer commented that "As bloggers have already noted, the Romans would have understood the Savile erasures as ''damnatio memoriae'' [...] people will be able to see the spot where a plaque to him once rested. They may know that a path was once named after him."<ref name="Rohrer 2012" />

== Fiction ==
The practice is a key function of the [[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]] government in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' by [[George Orwell]], associated with the [[Newspeak]] word "'''unperson'''" which has resultantly become another general synonym for it. [[TV Tropes]] uses this term in listing numerous other fictional cases.<ref>https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Unperson</ref>

== Analysis ==
The term is used in modern scholarship to cover a wide array of official and unofficial sanctions through which the physical remnants and memories of a deceased individual are destroyed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Varner |first=Eric R. |title=Monumenta Graeca et Romana: Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman imperial portraiture |publisher=BRILL |year=2004 |page=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Friedland |first1=Elise A. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture |last2=Sobocinski |first2=Melanie Grunow |last3=Gazda |first3=Elaine K. |publisher=Oxford |page=669}}</ref>

Looking at cases of {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} in modern [[Ireland|Irish]] history, [[Guy Beiner]] has argued that iconoclastic vandalism only makes [[martyr]]s of the "dishonored", thus [[Streisand effect|ensuring that they will be remembered]] for all time.<ref name="fr">{{Cite book |last=Beiner |first=Guy |author-link=Guy Beiner |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/forgetful-remembrance-9780198749356? |title=Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular; Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster |date=2018 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0198749356 |pages=380–381}}</ref> Nonetheless, Beiner goes on to argue that the purpose of {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}}—rather than being to erase people from history—was to guarantee only negative memories of those who were so dishonored.<ref name="fr" /><ref name="rem">{{Cite book |last=Beiner |first=Guy |url=https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/3846.htm |title=Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory |date=2007 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |isbn=978-0-299-21824-9 |location=[[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]] |pages=305}}</ref> Pointing out that {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} did not erase people from history but in effect kept their memory alive,<ref name="rem" /> Beiner concluded that those who partake in the destruction of a monument should be considered agents of memory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beiner |first=Guy |date=2021 |title=When Monuments Fall: The Significance of Decommemorating |journal=Éire-Ireland |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=33–61 |doi=10.1353/eir.2021.0001 |s2cid=240526743}}</ref>

Author Charles Hedrick proposes that a distinction be made between {{lang|la|damnatio memoriae}} (the condemnation of a deceased person) and {{lang|la|abolitio memoriae}} (the actual erasure of another from historical texts).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hedrick |first=Charles W. Jr. |url=https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/hedhis |title=History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity |date=2000 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0292718739 |location=[[Austin, Texas|Austin]] |page=93 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611104830/https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/hedhis |archive-date=11 June 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In case of removal of Soviet monuments in [[Eastern Europe]], the primary reason was that they were established as a symbol of occupation, domination or [[cult of personality]], rather than simple historic mark. It has been pointed out that all Nazi-established monuments and street names have been removed after [[World War II]] which has been perceived as natural reaction after liberation at that time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Andrejevs |first=Dmitrijs |date=17 August 2022 |title=Ukraine war prompts Baltic states to remove Soviet memorials |url=http://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-prompts-baltic-states-to-remove-soviet-memorials-188388 |access-date=6 September 2023 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Should Soviet monuments be dismantled or preserved? – DW – 07/09/2023 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/should-soviet-monuments-be-dismantled-or-preserved/a-65949228 |access-date=6 September 2023 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Anathema]]
* [[Cancel culture]]
* [[Censorship in Italy]]
* [[Censorship in North Korea]]
* [[Censorship of images in the Soviet Union]]
* [[Historical negationism]]
* [[Memoricide]]
* [[Memory hole]]
* [[Naming taboo]], not naming as a mark of respect
* [[Persona non grata]]
* [[Proscription]]
* [[Yimakh shemo]], an equivalent concept in Judaism
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |last=Low |first=Polly |url=https://histos.org/documents/SV11.06.LowRememberingForgettingRewriting.pdf |title=Shaping Memory in Ancient Greece: Poetry, Historiography, and Epigraphy |date=2020 |journal=Histos |publisher=Histos Supplements |editor-last=Constantakopoulou |editor-first=C. |pages=235–68 |chapter=Remembering, Forgetting, and Rewriting the Past: Athenian Inscriptions and Collective Memory |doi=10.29173/histos34 |access-date=13 January 2023 |editor-last2=Fragoulaki |editor-first2=M.}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=27 September 2022|En-Damnatio_memoriae-article.ogg}}
* [https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/damnatio-memoriae Damnatio memoriae] at Livius.org

{{Conformity}}
{{Censorship}}
{{Falsification of history}}

[[Category:Damnatio memoriae| ]]
[[Category:Blacklisting]]
[[Category:Crime and punishment in ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Historical negationism]]
[[Category:History of censorship]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Posthumous events]]