Damnatio memoriae is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. Depending on the extent, it can be a case of historical negationism. There are and have been many routes to damnatio memoriae, including the destruction of depictions, the removal of names from inscriptions and documents, and even large-scale rewritings of history. The term can be applied to other instances of official scrubbing. The practice has been seen as early as the Egyptian New Kingdom period, where the Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Akhenaten were subject to it.
The Severan Tondo, c. 199 AD tondo of the Severan family, with portraits of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, and their sons Caracalla and Geta. The face of one of Severus' and Julia's sons has been erased; it may be Geta's, as a result of the damnatio memoriae ordered by his brother Caracalla after Geta's death.
Damnatio memoriae of Commodus on an inscription in the Museum of Roman History Osterburken. The abbreviation "CO" was later restored with paint.
Coffin believed to belong to Akhenaten found in Tomb KV55. Note the typical obliteration of the face.
The erased rock relief at Sirkeli Höyük that is believed to be of Mursili III.
Hatshepsut was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II and the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from c. 1479 BC until c. 1458 BC. She was Egypt's second confirmed queen regnant, the first being Sobekneferu/Nefrusobek in the Twelfth Dynasty.
Statue of Hatshepsut on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jar bearing the cartouche of Hatshepsut. Filled in with cedar resin. Calcite, unfinished. Foundation deposit. 18th Dynasty, from Deir el-Bahari, Egypt. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
Copper or bronze sheet bearing the name of Hatshepsut. From a foundation deposit in a small pit covered with a mat found at Deir el-Bahari
Colonnaded design of Hatshepsut mortuary temple