Highlight- Ancient Romans Flashcards
What period were catacombs originated
Ancient Romans Time
Why was burial within the walls of the city prohibited?
Sanitary Reasons
The goddess of corpses and funerals also where deaths were registered
Libitina
the Roman equivalent of the head undertaker
libitinarius
or crier, who was a special functionary who summoned participants to the funeral
Praeco
People who performed numbers functions
funeral functionaries
When were upper class funerals
during the day
when were lower class funerals
at night
Who made it a law that all persons would be afforded a decent burial
First Christian Emperor Constantine
what is the animistic view?
doctrine that held the soul of man (although separated from body) hovered around the place of burial for its continued peace and happiness and required constant attention from descendants in the form of offerings of food and drink.
What happened when the animistic view stopped receiving offerings?
romans thought that the soul would cease to be happy and might even become a spirit of evil to bring harm upon those who had neglected the proper rites
What form of disposition did the romans practice?
both cremation and earth burial.
explain cremation during roman time
normal practice during period of republic and the first century after christ, however fire burial was replaced by inhumation(burial).
poor slave corpses were laid where?
in the commune sepulchral, the common burial pit, outside the walls.
Where were rich corpses laid and how were they laid out?
great roads outside were lined with elaborate and costly tombs erected by the well-to-do.
what is a niche? and where are they placed?
niche is an urn that holds ashes of the cremated and they were placed in great tombs or columbarias.
Roman funeral behavior
avoiding facts of death or hurriedly putting the dead out of sight
What happened when a person died in front of family?
the body is washed with warm water, anointed, laid out in white toga, and decorated with whatever rank was achieved during life. Then put in funeral couch, feet to door, lie in state of 3-7 days depending on prestige of person. Flowers strewn in funeral couch, incense burned, and placed outside door.
how long was the deceased laid out in a funeral couch?
3 days to 1 week depending on prestige of that person from life.
Who was in charge of setting and washing of the well-to-do as well as arrangements and burial?
professional undertakers
How long did the Romans wants the corpse preserved for?
not eternity, but long enough to lie in state without putrefaction
the process of decay or rotting in a body or other organic matter
putrefaction
either slaves or employees of the libitinarius that embalmed, that also was the designator who acted as master of ceremonies and director of the funeral procession
pollinctores
calling out the dead as tearing their hair, rending their garments and scratching their faces until they drew blood; shrieking out the name of the deceased
conclamatio mortis
