Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-j4qg9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-09T17:04:03.291Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 7 - At the Same Time

from Part I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2022

Simon Goldhill
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

To stand in Rome before the Pantheon and stare up at the huge bronze letters of the domineering inscription M. AGRIPPA L F COS TER FECIT is to recognize the memorializing power of the ancient epigraphic habit – and the degree to which the ancient city was full of sites that made the past physically, visibly present. The Parthenon parades its anonymity, proud in its generalization of the democratic ideal: the Pantheon broadcasts its maker’s name. Even or especially here, however, the act of making memory visible turns out to be more complicated than it might at first seem. The temple itself, originally built by Agrippa, had been burnt down twice, and the second rebuilding was completed by Domitian, an emperor so despised by those who remembered him that his statues were said to bleed and scream (it will be remembered) when beaten in violent damnatio. There is no record of his name on the Pantheon. This facade was rebuilt by Hadrian, who nonetheless has also not left his name anywhere on the building. This may seem an act of surprising restraint, but later history (HA Hadrian 20.3) records that Hadrian did not care to have his name proclaimed on buildings that he established or restored (though he was happy for cities to be named after him).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Christian Invention of Time
Temporality and the Literature of Late Antiquity
, pp. 132 - 155
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • At the Same Time
  • Simon Goldhill, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Christian Invention of Time
  • Online publication: 13 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071260.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • At the Same Time
  • Simon Goldhill, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Christian Invention of Time
  • Online publication: 13 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071260.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • At the Same Time
  • Simon Goldhill, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Christian Invention of Time
  • Online publication: 13 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071260.008
Available formats
×