Damnatio Failure: Domitian's Urban Vision of Rome through the Case Study of the Porticus Absidata

Domitian's urban vision as it emerged from his architectural and topographical projects presents us with several opportunities to un-damn the youngest Flavian emperor. Second only to those of Augustus, Domitian's buildings and urban interventions changed the face of ancient Rome, leaving an indelible mark and surviving his damnatio memoriae. In this chapter, I discuss the forum of Domitian's strange end module, the Porticus Absidata, as a case study of a large, coherent building program, revealing an image of Domitian that does not match the accounts surviving from the period of Nerva and Trajan.