Ancient Roman Death!

Written By: Norah Herrin & Olivia Gott

The Roman funeral was a ceremony that signified the transition between the states of life and death. They believed it was very important to conduct the proper burial in order to avoid having an evil spirit rise from the underworld.

While no direct description of Roman funerary practices were passed down, there are many ancient sources that exist that provide information about ancient funerals.

FUn Fact:

Pomegranate was the fruit of the underworld, and was called the fruit of death.

TRIVIA!

In the underworld, which of these rivers is the river of forgetfulness?

I. The River Styx

II. The River Lethe

III. The River Acheron

IV. The River Cocytus

V. The River Unicorn

A: II

The River Lethe

Generally, there were five parts of a Roman funeral. A procession, cremation and burial, eulogy, feast, and commemoration.

The Procession

The procession was the mourning. Wealthy people usually had lots of musicians and mimes at their funeral. The larger the number of guests, the richer and wealthier the dead person was.

Fun fact: Many wealthy people hired actors to act devastated at the funeral, such as tear their hair out, or even scratch their faces and wail. They believed this made them looked more loved and respected.

For the poor people, they only had a few flute players and their family members.

Cremation and Buriel

      Cremation is the ritual of preparing a person for death, except they're already dead. After cremation, they buried them so they would be able to go to the underworld. To sum it up, they made dead people look pretty and then put them in a box, in a hole, underground. Also, we still as modern humans do this today...

Eulogy

If the dead person was an important member of society or made a strong impression on their family, the family would offer a eulogy. A eulogy is a speech or piece of writing that praises someone, typically to someone who died.

The Feast

The feast was a big part of the death rituals. After cremation and burial, they had a feast that celebrated their life while it lasted. The Romans believed this effected their life in the underworld.

The Commemoration

This is the last stage of the death ritual. They said something along the lines of, "Although they have passed, we still remember them in our hearts." We still do this today, and it is basically mourning but in a good way.