Funerary Practices, Beliefs, and Key Rituals

Question 1

Burial of the dead outside city grounds

Answer 1

• No burials were allowed inside the city for hygiene purpose (corpses spread disease)

Question 2

Pompa

Answer 2

• The Roman funerary procession, or pompa, often depicted on funerary reliefs to demonstrate an individual’s wealth

Question 3

Obol

Answer 3

All Romans shared the belief that the soul of the deceased was ferried across the River Styx by Charon, who required an obol as payment.

Question 4

Funeral Masks

Answer 4

• Funeral masks (often wax) were moulded as death masks, possibly moulded directly from the deceased
• Sometimes worn in the funeral procession by funeral mourners or family members
• Wealthier families often displayed a series of funeral masks in the atrium of the family home

Question 5

Differences in Wealth

Answer 5

• Poor Romans were buried in a simple sack in a mass grave
• ## Wealthy Romans were buried individually in wooden coffins or marble sarcophagi

Question 6

Mos Maiorum

Answer 6

• The core concept of Roman traditionalism: ancestral custom
• Translates to “custom of the ancestors”
• Unwritten code from which Ancient Romans dervied their social code
• Can be demonstrated in reliefs depicting entire families

Question 7

Pietas

Answer 7

• the religious duty towards one’s ancestors