The Romans did not place the tombs of the dead in quiet, lonely places but by the side of roads just outside towns, where they could be seen and admired. The tombs at Pompeii can still be seen along the roads that go north from the Herculaneum Gate and south from the Nuceria Gate.

Some were grand and impressive and looked like small houses; others were plain and simple. Inside a tomb there was a chest or vase containing the ashes of the dead person; sometimes there were recesses in the walls of a tomb to hold the remains of several members of a family. The ashes of poor people, who could not afford the expense of a tomb, were buried more simply. At this time cremation was the normal way of disposing of the dead.

In building their cemeteries along busy roads rather than in peaceful and secluded places, the Romans were not showing any lack of respect. On the contrary, they believed that, unless the dead were properly treated, their ghosts would haunt the living and possibly do them harm. It was most important to provide the dead with a tomb or grave, where their ghosts could have a home. But it was also thought that they would want to be close to the life of the living. One tomb has this inscription: “I see and gaze upon all who come to and from the city” and another, “Lollius has been placed by the side of the road in order that everyone who passes may say to him ‘Hello, Lollius’.”

It was believed that the dead in some way continued the activities of life and therefore had to be supplied with the things they would need. A craftsman would want his tools, a woman her jewelry, children their toys. When the bodies of the dead were cremated, certain of their possessions were burned or buried with them. A Greek writer called Lucian tells the story of a husband who had burned all his dead wife’s jewelry and clothes on the funeral pyre so that she might have them in the next world. A week later he was trying to comfort himself by reading a book about life after death, when the ghost of his wife appeared. She began to reproach him because he had not burned one of her gilded sandals, which, she said, was lying under a chest. The family dog then barked, and the ghost disappeared. The husband looked under the chest, found the sandal, and burned it. The ghost was now content and did not appear again.

The ghosts of the dead were also thought to be hungry and thirsty and therefore had to be given food and drink. Offerings of eggs, beans, lentils, flour and wine were placed regularly at the tomb. Sometimes holes were made in the tomb so that food and wine could be poured inside. Wine was a convenient substitute for blood, the favorite drink of the dead. At the funeral and on special occasions, animals were sacrificed, and their blood was offered.

Inside a Pompeian tomb, with recesses for the ashes.

Section through a Roman burial in Caerleon, Wales. A pipe ran down into the container for the ashes, so that gifts of food and drink could be poured in.

Cremation urns

Ashes were buried in containers of many materials, including stone, metal and glass. One wealthy Pompeian had his ashes buried in this fabulously expensive, hand-carved blue and white glass vase, which was found in one of the tombs outside the Herculaneum Gate. Poor people might put the ashes of the dead in second-hand storage jars which were then buried in the earth.

It was thought, however, that in spite of these attempts to care for them, the dead did not lead a very happy existence. In order to help them forget their unhappiness, their tombs were often decorated with garlands of flowers and surrounded by little gardens, a custom which has lasted to this day, although its original meaning has changed. With the same purpose in mind, the family and friends of a dead person held a banquet after the funeral and on the anniversary of the death. Sometimes these banquets took place in a dining room attached to the tomb itself, sometimes in the family home. The ghosts of the dead were thought to attend and enjoy these cheerful occasions.

In addition to these ceremonies, two festivals for the dead were held every year. At one of these, families remembered parents and relations who had died; at the other, they performed rites to exorcise any ghosts in their houses who might be lonely or hungry and therefore dangerous.

Some people also believed in the Greek myths about the underworld, where the good lived happily forever in the Elysian Fields and where the wicked were punished for their crimes in Tartarus. Stories were told about the punishments suffered by famous evildoers such as the wicked Tityus, who had his liver pecked out by vultures, and the daughters of Danaus, who were condemned to carry water forever in pots with holes in the bottom. By the first century A.D., most Romans did not take these stories literally, although they continued to incorporate them into their art and literature.

A bronze head of Epicurus, from a villa at Herculaneum.

Word Study

III
lachrymosenearness
pulchritudesilent
tacitbeauty
internecinetearful
propinquitydeadly

What do the following derivatives of omnis mean?

cōnspicit   nihil   terret   mortuus   rogat

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