Space, Memory and Ideology during the Reign of the Flavians

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My project sheds new light on poetry of praise (panegyric) during the reign of the Flavians (AD 69-96) by looking at the interaction between space, memory and ideology in the work of Flavian poets. The Flavian emperors were the first to effect a successful dynastic change in the history of imperial Rome, taking over from the Julio-Claudian dynasty which had been in power for nearly a century. This makes the Flavian period a highly worthwhile object of study if one wants to understand the evolution of Roman imperial ideology and the dynamics of regime change. Especially noteworthy in this respect is the preoccupation with space and memory in Flavian culture at large and Flavian poetry in particular, which seems to play a central role in the dynasty's self-representation. By combining a literary approach with the study of material evidence and theories on memory and space (e.g. Bachelard, Nora, Assmann) my research will demonstrate that Flavian poets were powerful, yet vulnerable, agents who manipulated specific memory-loaded sites in order to influence the way in which Flavian Rome remembered its past and imagined its future. This allowed them to lay the foundations for a new ideological framework for the nascent regime. Here, I will focus on two of the most prominent poets of the period, Statius and Martial. Research interestsFlavian Rome, Roman imperial ideology, panegyric literature, memory and space in Latin literature, lieux de mémoire.