The Memory of Loss: Identity Formation as Influenced by the Looting of Cultural Heritage in Italy from Antiquity to Present Day

Abstract

From antiquity through to the present day, Italy has a documented history of experiences surrounding cultural heritage looting. This thesis examines the collective memory of looting in ancient Roman and Italian history, focusing on the ways that cultural heritage plunder has influenced group identity and memory. Cultural heritage is a vital contributor to collective identity formation, and identity is formed by both presence and absence. Consequently, the loss of this heritage to another place, as seen in instances of looting, can influence that sense of identity in interesting and distinct ways. While the primary emphasis is on historical analysis, this thesis is also interested in exploring the emotional effects that experiencing an important loss can have on a culture. A selection of case studies in Roman and Italian pasts illustrates a few of the impacts that looting has on a community, experienced contrastingly as both victim and perpetrator. The periods investigated include antiquity (3rd-1st c. BCE), the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II (1941-1945), and contemporary archaeological looting.