Funerals

[Rameses the Great]

I wondered how Romans dealt with dealt especially withing each social class. Obviously they probably greaved a lot more then we do today.

 

I was wandering if they had a special ritual like the Egyptians. How was it portrayed in their culture? Where did they go in the after life?

 

I'm thinking it would be similar to how Greeks dealt with a death, but looking for some insight.

[Lost_Warrior]

I really don't know that they did grieve a lot more than we do. This is only speculation, but they seemed to be more of a "celebrate the life" rather than "mourn the death" type of people. The way they saw it, the person was not gone out of their lives; the spirits of the ancestors moved on to Elysium (or whatever the Roman equivalent was) or stayed around to guide the family, or both. They simply saw their deceased family members as having moved on, and their presence was still known.

 

Although, they probably had a lot more time to grieve if they chose to. In our world, everything is "rushrushrush" and we don't seem to have much time for anything personal. This also doesn't give us as much time to fully experience our emotions so that we can get over them as quickly.

[caldrail]

I think the personal loss in the ancient world was every bit as great as today - although tempered by cirumstance in a hostile dangerous world. Legionaries paid their dues to burial clubs, whose responsibility was ensure a decent grave for soldiers far from home. Even poor people paid sums of money to have tombstones raised, with memorial inscriptions that hint at a very loving relationship. However its also true that romans exposed their children, something we find hard to understand today.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Well indeed the roman had a different view toward death, but it evolved with time. First they had lamentations at the time of the funeral, often cremated their death ( then later adopted burials ), organized themselves in collegia to take care of the deceased, put goods in the tombs that referred to a funeral banquet, and held yearly dinners on the deceased's tombs in order to pacify their shade in order that the evil spirit of the dead did not come to haunt them. They also made small daily offerings to the manes, the good spirit of the dead which helped them in their daily life.

 

But by the first century AD new conceptions about the dead had come to Rome, speaking of an afterlife and of salvation of the spirit : cult of the Magna Mater, of Cybele, of Mithra, and such which paved the way for the christians.

 

This had consequences in the rituals made for the deceased, but the biggest change came with the Christians who needed the corpse to come back again at Armageddon and thus built long catacombs in which they lay their dead.

 

We must also remember that during the Empire all regions did not use the same traditions : in Egypt for example momification was still used.

[caldrail]

Mummification of course was reserved for the celebrities. Common egyptians did what?

 

Something similar is true of romans. The wealthy got the expensive memorial processions and wakes. I doubt the poor got any consideration at all.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Mummification was more common in the Greek and Roman periods, we have many examples which gave us the wonderful paintings on papers that covered the face of the mummified body found in the oasis and dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries for example.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Roman funerals were typically held at night to prevent large public gatherings and discourage crowds and excessive mourning which, in the case of major political figures, could lead to serious unrest. Hired musicians led the parade, followed by mourners and relatives who often carried portrait sculptures or wax masks of other deceased family members. The procession would end outside of town (it was forbidden to bury anyone within the city limits) and a pyre, or cremation fire, was built. As the fire burned, a eulogy was given in honor of the deceased. After the pyre was extinguished, a family member (usually the deceased's mother or wife) would gather the ashes and place them in an urn.

 

Many Romans belonged to funeral societies, called collegia, to ensure proper burial. They would pay monthly dues, which would be employed to cover the cost of funerals for members. Collegia members (provided they were in good standing) were guaranteed a spot in a columbarium. Columbaria were large underground vaults where peoples' cremated remains were placed within small wall niches, which were often marked by memorial plaques and portrait sculptures. Because the Romans believed that a proper burial was essential for passage to the afterlife, there was much concern on this score. Columbaria were an inexpensive way to guarantee this transition, and collegia allowed all classes of society to reach the underworld. Some emperors even provided funeral allowances to those so very poor they could not even afford to belong to a collegia.

 

Take a look at this site about Roman funerals, it has pictures of artifacts retrived from a Roman Columbaria.

 

http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/De...roup/index.html

Edited February 19, 2007 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus

[CiceroD]

when were wax Imagos taken? and how was one granted the privilage of one?

 

I know that these Masks were then put out in the Atrium, but were they displayed like they were in the Rome TV series?

[Gaius Octavius]

I have always wondered how the ashes of the deceased were distinguished from the ashes of the pyre.

[Lost_Warrior]

Gaius I've wondered that too!

 

Not to get TOO gruesome here, but a human body burns into a sort of "lumpy slag" (according to one source). The bones are not turned completely to ash and I would imagine that the ash is greasy, due to the amount of fat in the human body.

 

All in all though, I really don't think it matters that much if some wood ash is mixed in, or what have you.

 

I do know that I wouldn't want the job of gathering up the ashes.

 

I could make some rather sick one-liners but I'll refrain.