Imitating the Dead in Ancient Rome

Before discussing funeral or burial practices of Ancient Rome I feel that it is important to establish what constitutes Ancient Rome. 

“Beginning in the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy's Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. Among the many legacies of Roman dominance are the widespread use of the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) derived from Latin, the modern Western alphabet and calendar and the emergence of Christianity as a major world religion. After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar's rise and fall in the first century B.C. The long and triumphant reign of its first emperor, Augustus, began a golden age of peace and prosperity; by contrast, the empire's decline and fall by the fifth century A.D. was one of the most dramatic implosions in the history of human civilization.”

                                 -http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome

Roman Empire ca AD 180

Funeral Findings

As I began my research it was not a surprise that the first information on funerals I came across was over the funeral practices for those of wealth and power.  These funeral practices were often elaborate and public affairs with hired actors and musicians present.One of the more interesting facts I found is that there would be someone, with similar build of the deceased, who was hired to act as that person wearing a funerary mask for the duration of the funeral. Most of the images of these masks that I found were discovered in Egypt while it was under Roman rule.

Found in Fayoum, Egypt ca 100AD to 200AD

 An article entitled "Amongst the Dead in Ancient Rome" published in Mortality in March of 2001 included a quoted description of a burial procedure by a Greek historian called Polybius:

 

"Whenever any illustrious man dies, he is carried at his

    funeral into the forum to the so-called rostra, sometimes

    conspicuous in an upright posture and rarely reclined. Here

    with all the people standing round, a grown-up son, if he

    has left one who happens to be present, or if not some other

    relative mounts the rostra and discourses on the virtues and

    successful achievements of the dead [...] Next after the

    interment and the performance of the usual ceremonies, they

    place the image of the departed in the most conspicuous

    position in the house, enclosed in a wooden shrine. This

    image is a mask reproducing with remarkable fidelity both

    the features and complexion of the deceased. On the occasion

    of public sacrifices they display these images, and decorate

    them with much care, and when any distinguished member of

    the family dies they take them to the funeral, putting them

    on men who seem to them to bear the closest resemblance to

    the original in stature and carriage. These representatives

    wear togas, with a purple border if the deceased was a

    consul or praetor, whole purple if he was a censor, and

    embroidered with gold if he had celebrated a triumph or

    achieved anything similar. They all ride in chariots

    preceded by the fasces, axes, and other insignia by which

    the different magistrates are wont to be accompanied

    according to the respective dignity of the offices of state

    held by each during his life; and when they arrive at the

    rostra they all seat themselves in a row on ivory chairs.

    There could not easily be a more ennobling spectacle for a

    young man who aspires to fame and virtue. For who would not

    be inspired by the sight of the images of men renowned for

    their excellence, all together and as if alive and

    breathing?".

The funerary masks were created before a person was deceased and kept on display in the atrium, or entry way, of a home for visitors to see. When a person died the mask was then removed from the atrium to use in the funeral and then returned after. The actors who portrayed the deceased would not only wear the masks but would act as the person in movement and speech as well. 

In the previous mentioned article the author also quotes the story of a mime imitating emperor Vespasian's stinginess:

    "But at the funeral, the arch-mime Favor bearing his likeness

    and imitating his former actions and words, as is the

    custom, openly asked the procurators how much the funeral

    and procession cost. When he heard 10,000,000 sesterces, he

    shouted that they should give him 100,000 sesterces and

    throw his body into the Tiber."

The article contained a lot of other information on funeral practices for the wealthy. For the purpose of a daily blog I feel that I have highlighted the more interesting portions above. As I continue to read through and highlight information I will make more in-depth posts on the subject before the week is out. 

Burial Findings

 

In regards to the burial practices of Ancient Rome there was a fact mentioned not only in the article previously mentioned but also in our class reading, "In Rome the law of the Twelve Tables forbade burial in urbe, within the city...This is why cemeteries were located ouside cities, along roads such as the Appian Way or Rome..."(Aries pg 15). This law is elaborated on more in the article where it goes on to say that "The Twelve Tables explicitly forbade the burning or burying of corpses within the pomerium of the city to guard against disease and religious pollution".

The only other information I have uncovered on the subject of burial is also from the class reading which says "in Ancient Rome, everyone, even the slaves, had a burial place, a loculus, and that this place was marked by an inscription". However this is all the current information I have on the burials of Ancient Egypt until I uncover further articles on the subject. 

I did look up what exactly the Twelve Tables were:

"This is the earliest attempt by the Romans to create a CODE OF LAW; it is also the earliest (surviving) piece of literature coming from the Romans. In the midst of a perennial struggle for legal and social protection and civil rights between the privileged class (patricians) and the common people (plebeians) a commission of ten men (Decemviri) was appointed (ca. 455 B.C.) to draw up a code of law which would be binding on both parties and which the magistrates (the 2 consuls) would have to enforce impartially." -http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/12tables.html

Sources

Erasmo, Mario. "Among The Dead In Ancient Rome." Mortality 6.1 (2001): 31-43. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Sept. 2013

Aries,Philippe. Western Attitudes toward Death from the Middle Ages to the Present. Translated

by Patricia Ranum.Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1974.