Roman
Civilization
CMS 206 /History
206
Tombs and Funerals
- The archeological evidence indicates that
the Romans practiced both cremation and inhumation (what we'd call
"burial"). From the mid 3rd century B.C.E. on, burial became
increasingly more popular.
- Cremations took place either in a
section of the cemetary set aside for the event (ustrinum),
or at the bustum (the grave site where the ashes would be
buried). In addtion to the body, survivors burned gifts to and
personal belongings of the dead. The ashes were gathered and
buried in a container which could be anything from a cloth bag to
a marble chest. Alternatively, especially for poorer citizens, the
containers would be placed in a family's personal niche
(nidus) in a dovecote (columbarium)
erected and maintained by a neighborhood funeral club
(collegia
funeraticia). Neighbors pooled their resources to create a
burial insurance fund that guaranteed all its members could afford
a decent funeral. The practice of cremation, which Jews and
Christians objected to on theological grounds, did not die out
until the 5th century, C.E.
- The Etruscans
made elaborate tombs in which they buried their dead (at
least their wealthy dead). Wealthy Romans similarly had elaborate
and monumental tombs (sometimes oddly shaped, e.g. a pyramid, or a
cylinder, like that of Caecilia
Metella). The tomb
of Augustus and the mausoleum
of Hadrian are good examples of how
monumental a Roman Emperor's tomb could get.. Some burial sites
were called "necropoleis" [cities of the dead], and
located outside the city walls. [A good example is the
necropolis at Pompeii.
These cemetaries (which seem almost identical to modern ones) were
laid out like minature cities with narrow lanes along side of
which lay graves, tombs and tombstones. Alternatively, as in Rome,
the roads leading from the city, could become burial sites. The
Scipiones,
one of the most important and powerful families in Rome, for
example, maintained their family tombs on a side street leading
off the Via Appia. (The OAG has an excellent
description of the tombs of the Scipiones, p. 328 ff.). Modern
Romans love to picnic among these tombs.
- Just like today, professional undertakers
organized Roman funerals. Among the poorer classes, expenses were
paid for by the collegia funeraticia. Family and friends
would lead the bier by the shortest route out of the city to the
tomb site. Rituals were performed at the grave in which offerings
of food and drink were made for the dead. Then, a "funeral lunch"
was held for the mourners at the grave site. Nine days later, the
family held another feast to honor the departed (cena
novendialis) and particularly in the year of the death, but
generally for years to come, would honor the deceased on feast
days for the dead (like the Parentalia).
- The rich had much more elaborate funerals.
The dead, particularly those who had been famous or politically
prominent, might lie in state for days before the funeral. The
funeral procession itself was a virtual parade. The undertakers
supplied mourning women, musicians, dancers and mimes. Members of
the family (if their number had included members who had won
prominent political office [curile magistracies] would
dress up like deceased ancestors, wearing their imagines
(death masks that were prominently displayed in the family home
until the next funeral) and riding in chariots. The procession
moved from the family home, through the main streets of the city
to the Forum. At the Forum, a member of the family gave a speech
in praise of the deceased (a laudatio funebris or funeral
oration) whose bier was propped into an upright position. Polybius
thought the Roman funeral was one of the most fundamental ways
that Romans educated their children (RCiv, v.I, #182, p.
518).
- Grave sites, whether the deceased had been
buried or cremated, typically were marked by inscribed tombstones
and wooden grave markers. Thousands of thousands of these
tombstones, from all over the Roman Empire, have survived
(althought the wooden grave markers of the poorest classes have
not). The tombstones could contain a sculpture of the dead person,
demographic information, a list of the public offices held and
public services performed by the deceased, and a dedicatory
inscription by the family member who paid for the tombstone. It
was not uncommon at all for slaves or freedmen of a childless
person to raise the tombstone.
- Although tombstone inscriptions were often
formulaic, they also could be intensely personal (e.g., the
Laudatio Turiae, RCiv, v.1, #183, p. 519). Consider the
dedicatory inscription to a woman named Claudia (RCiv, v.1, #184,
p.524):
- Stranger, my message is short. Stand by
and read it through. Here is the unlovely tomb of a lovely
woman. Her parents called her Claudia by name. She loved her
husband with all her heart. She bore two sons; of these she
leaves one on earth; under the earth she has placed the other.
She was charming in converse, yet gentle in bearing. She kept
house, she made woool. That's my last word. Go your
way.
- Questions to think about:
- What do you think the choice between the
burial practices of cremation and inhumation can tell us about
a society and its beliefs?
- Why did Polybius think that the Roman
funeral was a means of education.
- What sorts of information can historians
get from funerary inscriptions? What kinds of questions should
we be asking these stones?
University of Michigan's Kelsey Museum electronic exhibit:
Death
on Display in the Ancient World
DEREK B. COUNTS, "Regum
Externorum Consuetudine: The Nature and Function of Embalming in
Rome" - (note, link is to abstract, you
have to download article if you're interested)
Etruscan
Death Rituals
Roma
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