Chapter 11

Cultural Notes: Funerals

Death was considered to bring pollution, so you had to get moving if a member of your household died. The body had to be buried, even if this meant no more than throwing a handful of dirt over it. There were laws limiting what a common family could spend on a funeral.

There were four types of funerals: the translaticum, for lower-class or moderately wealthy stiffs; the militare, for soldiers, as its name suggests; the publicum, for those who had done state service; and of course the imperatorium, for emperors and their families. Funerals were similar for both women and men.

First the body was bathed, then clothed (if the man had been a magistrate, he was clothed in his official robes), then laid on a couch in the atrium, with the feet towards the door. Relatives and others present lamented the death, and the corpse was then carried to the pyre outside the city walls, attended by a crowd.

This crowd included the general public, musicians and professional female mourners who sang dirges, living relatives, and dead relatives who were represented by actors. If the stiff was an important person, a wax mask was made of his or her face and worn by someone at the funeral, so that he or she would also be there. Sometimes a wax model was made of the body also.

Gifts were burned with the body and placed in the tomb. Emperors had huge pyres, like a four-story building with a colonnade. An eagle inside flew out of the fire, representing the emperor's spirit.

Women continued to mourn for a year. The household was taboo for a time after the death. The heir swept out the pollution of death with a special broom.