funus

post tot funera vinco
after so many deaths I am victorious publico funere elatus est
he received a public burial

fūnus, eris, n.: a funeral; freq., funeral rites, 4.308; death, carnage, 2.361; corpse, dead body, 6.150; deathbed, 9.491; funeral pyre, 11.189; calamity, 1.232; pl., fūnera, um, a corpse prepared for burial, 9.486.

fūnus, ĕris, n. [Sanscr. dhū-mas, smoke; v. fumus], a funeral procession, funeral rites, burial, funeral, usually with reference to the burning of the body; cf.: funus est jam ardens cadaver; quod dum portatur, exsequias dicimus; crematum, reliquias; conditum jam, sepulcrum, Serv. ad Verg. A. 2, 539 (freq. and class.).

• I Lit.: funus, quo amici conveniunt ad exsequias cohonestandas, Cic. Quint. 15, 50; cf.: mater exsequias illius funeris prosecuta, id. Clu. 71, 201: funus innumeris exsequiis celebratum, Plin. 10, 43, 60, § 122: mercedem funeris ac sepulturae constituere, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 51, § 134: maeror funeris, id. Lael. 3, 11: cui acerbissimum funus ducitur, id. Quint. 15, 50; cf.: funus triumphali portā ducendum, Suet. Aug. 100: facere filio, Cic. Clu. 9, 28: celebrare, Liv. 8, 10, 10: ornare, Cic. Rep. 6, 2; Suet. Aug. 100: paterno funeri omnia justa solvere, Cic. Rosc. Am. 8, 23: funeri operam dare, id. Att. 15, 1, B, 1: venire in funus, id. ib.: pro ea copia quae Athenis erat, funus ei (Marcello) satis amplum faciendum curavi, Serv. ap. Cic. Fam. 4, 12, 3: funus militare alicui facere, Liv. 3, 43, 7; cf.: prodire (alicui) in funus, Ter. And. 115; Varr. R. R. 1, 69, 2: funere efferri, Cic. de Or. 2, 55, 225; Suet. Ner. 9; 30; 33: praetereunte funere, id. Tib. 57: corpus crematum publico funere, id. ib. 75: nec te in tua funera mater Produxi (= funus tuum duxi), Verg. A. 9, 486: funus imagines Ducant triumphales tuum, i. e. be borne at the head of the procession, Hor. Epod. 8, 11: sub ipsum funus, id. C. 2, 18, 18: statim a funere, Suet. Caes. 85.—Comically: fecisti funus med absente prandio: Cur ausu's facere, quoi ego adaeque heres eram? have buried, i. e. devoured it, Plaut. Men. 3, 2, 27 (492).—In plur.: funera agitant, exsequia ititant, Naev. 3, 9: nemo me lacrumis decoret, nec funera fletu Faxit, Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 15, 34, and de Sen. 20, 73 (Epigr. 3, p. 162 Vahl.); poetically imitated by Cicero: linquamus amicis Maerorem, ut celebrent funera cum gemitu, Cic. poët. Tusc. 1, 49, 117: cum senatus auctoritatem suam in virorum fortium funeribus ornamentisque ostenderit, id. Phil. 9, 7, 16: edictum, quod de funeribus habeant (aediles curules), id. ib. § 17: tristia, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 74: tria si concurrant foro, id. S. 1, 6, 43: justa reddere alicui, Plin. 10, 2, 2, § 4; Sil. 2, 184.—
• • B Transf.
  • • 1 A dead body, corpse, =cadaver (poet.): haeccine parva meum funus arena teget? Prop. 1, 17, 8: lacerum, Verg. A. 9, 491.—In plur., of a corpse, Val. Fl. 3, 298: mixta senum ac juvenum densentur funera, Hor. C. 1, 28, 19; of the manes of the departed: cum semel infernas intrarunt funera leges, Prop. 4 (5), 11, 3.—
    • 2 Death, esp. violent death, murder (mostly poet.): maturo propior ... funeri, Hor. C. 3, 15, 4: vicinum funus ut aegros Exanimat, id. S. 1, 4, 126: exstinctum Nymphae crudeli funere Daphnin Flebant, Verg. E. 5, 20: (quos) Abstulit atra dies, et funere mersit acerbo, id. A. 6, 429: qui patrios foedasti funere vultus, with murder, id. ib. 2, 539.—Freq. in plur.: quae funera Turnus Ediderit, Verg. A. 9, 526; cf. id. ib. 10, 602; Hor. C. 1, 15, 10; 4, 14, 49; once in Cic., acc. to Nonius: ut vix hominum acerbis funeribus satietur, Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. 300, 26 (id. Rep. 2, 41 Mos.).—
• II Trop., destruction, ruin, fall (rare but class.): vir summā eloquentiā dixit graviter, casum illum meum funus esse rei publicae, sed funus justum et indictum, Cic. Prov. Cons. 19, 45: dum Capitolio Regina (Cleopatra) dementes ruinas Funus et imperio parabat, Hor. C. 1, 37, 8. —In plur.: sub lacrimosa Trojae Funera, Hor. C. 1, 8, 15: pro dira pudoris funera, Luc. 4, 231.—Also concr. of persons plotting destruction: Gabinium et Pisonem, duo rei publicae portenta ac paene funera, Cic. Prov. Cons. 1, 2.

fūnus, eris, n. (viell. zu gotisch gaunon, Klagelieder singen, klagen), die feierliche Beerdigung, Bestattung einer Leiche, das Leichenbegängnis, die Leiche (während exsequiae u. pompa ihre feierliche Begleitung, die Leichenfeier, u. zwar exsequiae durch Verwandte und Freunde, pompa durch Ahnenbilder u.a. Prunk): I) eig. u. meton.: A) eig.: funus, quo amici conveniunt ad exsequias cohonestandas, Cic.: habebat funus et exsequias quales meruit, Val. Max.: funus adiutare, bei der L. mit helfen, Ter.: funus indicere, Cic.: f. alci facere, Cic.: funus alci instaurare Verg.: paterno funeri omnia iusta solvere, Cic.: alci f. ducere, halten, besorgen, Cic.: in funus venire, zur L. kommen, Cic.: in funus prodire, mit zur L. gehen, Ter. Andr. 115 u. Cic.: so auch funus celebrare, Liv.: funera non potui comitare (= comitari), Ov.: funere efferre, efferri, funus effertur, s. 1. ef-fero: efferri sine ulla funeris pompa, Nep.: funus procedit (setzt sich in Bewegung), Ter.: funus alcis videre, jmds L. sehen = jmds. Tod erleben, Nep. – funus (alcis) ornare, Suet.: funus alcis ducere, die L. anführen (v. den Ahnenbildern), Hor.: statim a funere, Suet. – Plur., virorum fortium funera, Cic.: iustis funeribus confectis, Caes.: Plur. auch poet. v. der Bestattung eines einzelnen, Sil. 2, 184. – B) meton. (poet.): 1) die Leiche, der Leichnam, meum, Prop.: lacerum, Verg., Plur. poet. v. einer Leiche, Val. Flacc. 3, 298. – übtr., v. den Schatten, Manen der Abgeschiedenen, Prop. 4, 11, 3. – 2) der Tod, u. insbes. der gewaltsame, der Mord, crudeli funere exstinctus, Verg.: sub ipsum funus, schon dem Tode nahe, Hor. – foedasti funere vultus, Verg.: edere funera, morden, Verg. – II) übtr., der Untergang, das Verderben, der Tod, rei publicae, Cic.: funus imperio parabat, Hor. – meton. für die den Untergang bereitende Person, v. Gabinius u. Piso, paene funera rei publicae, der Untergang, die Zerstörer, Cic.

1 funus v. funis

2 funus [CL] 1 funeral rites, funeral procession. Aldh. Met. 10 (v. epigramma 1); V. Ed. Conf. 56v (v. decantatio b); Dial. Scac. II 4D (v. debere 2); Gir. IK II pref. (v. exsequiae a). 2 dead body, corpse (before burial). Gildas EB 72 (v. divertere 5a); dona sacer celsae dum spargit ubique salutis, / ferre videt maestam nati moritura parentem / funera seminecis Bede CuthbV 591; W. Malm. GR III 293 (v. 1 elatio 1); notandum quod ~us dicitur in domo, cadaver apud tumulum, umbra apud inferos Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 232; W. Cant. Mir. Thom. II 48 (v. exsequialis); cum ‥ tempus fuerit ut corpus exanime pontificalibus induatur ex more, sociabis tibi unum ex sacerdotibus regularis habitus, qui tecum totum ~us diligentius abluat et abstergat Ad. Eyns. Hug. V 16 p. 191; Alb. Lond. DG 6. 30 (v. exsequiae c); 1290 (v. deprope a); s1424 (v. 1 deferre 2c); Mir. Hen. VI II 40 (v. exitiosus b). 3 death. hoc ‥ eis proficiebat immaturae mortis supplicium qui tali ~ere rapiebantur Gildas EB 19; presbyter egrediens vatis pia funera maestis / depromit sociis Bede CuthbV 786; dira ‥ praesagia tristi regis ~ere ‥ impleta sunt Id. HE III 14 p. 157; defunctis enim optimis regibus ‥, Franci et Angli diu luxerunt ~us eorum Ord. Vit. IV 1 p. 162; Walt. Wimb. Sim. 58 (v. eximere 3a).

fūnŭs, (8) ĕris, n. , ¶ 1 funérailles, cérémonie funèbre [v. définition d. Serv. En. 3, 62 ; 2, 539 ] : facere Cic. Clu. 28 ; celebrare Liv. 8, 10, 10, faire les funérailles, rendre les derniers devoirs ; funere efferri Cic. de Or. 2, 225, être porté à la dernière demeure, recevoir les honneurs funèbres || [poét.] = cadavre : Virg. En. 6, 510 ; 9, 491 ; Prop. 1, 17, 8 ; funera nec funera [nec = ac non ] Catul. 64, 83 [cf. Ov. M. 8, 231 ], des morts qui ne sont pourtant pas des morts [v. innuptus ; insepultus ] ¶ 2 mort violente, meurtre : Cic. Rep. 2, 68 ; Virg. B. 5, 20 ; En. 9, 524 ; Liv. 1, 46, 9, etc. || cadavre : Prop. 1, 17, 8 ; Virg. En. 9, 491 ; Hor. O. 1, 28, 19 ¶ 3 [fig.] anéantissement, ruine, perte, mort : reipublicæ Cic. Prov. 45, la ruine de lʼÉtat ; reipublicæ funera Cic. Prov. 2, fléaux de lʼÉtat [en parl. de personnes].

funus , eris. n.
出殯。死候。屍。— celebrare vel ducere 出殯。— ei facere 爲其具殯。— facere prandio 以午飯食淨。

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fūnus eris, n

• FAV-, a funeral procession, funeral rites, burial, funeral: funus interim Procedit, T.: adiutare funus, attend, T.: exsequias illius funeris prosequi: maeror funeris: acerbissimum: celebrare, L.: paterno funeri omnia iusta solvere: militare, L.: tuum, H.: funerum nulla ambitio, Ta.: virorum fortium funera: nec te, tua funera mater Produxi, thee(or rather) thy funeral, V.—A dead body, corpse: meum, Pr.: lacerum, V.: senum ac iuvenum funera, H.—The shades of the dead, manes, Pr.—Death, violent death, murder: Maturo propior funeri, H.: crudele, V.: qui patrios foedasti funere voltūs, V.: quae funera Turnus Ediderit, V.: praetexere funera sacris, i. e. suicide, V.—Fig., destruction, ruin, fall: rei p.: Capitolio Funus parabat, H.: tot funera passi, V.—Of persons, a pest, destroyer: duo rei p. funera.

FUNUS

FUNUSIt is proposed in the following article to give a brief account of Greek and Roman funerals, and of the different rites and ceremonies connected with death and burial. The tombs, their contents, and the monuments placed over them will be explained in the article SEPULCRUM

Greek

The Greeks attached great importance to the burial of the dead. They believed that souls could not enter the Elysian fields till their bodies had been buried ; and accordingly we find the shade of Elpenor in the Odyssey (11.66, &c.) earnestly imploring Ulysses to bury his body. Ulysses also, when in danger of shipwreck, deplores that he had not fallen before Troy, as he should in that case have obtained an honourable burial (Od. 5.311). So strong was this feeling among the Greeks, that it was considered a religious duty to throw earth upon a dead body which a person might happen to find unburied (Ael. VH 5.14); and among the Athenians, those children who were released from all other obligations to unworthy parents were nevertheless bound to bury them by one of Solon's laws. (Aesch. c. Timarch. § 14.) The neglect of burying one's relatives is frequently mentioned by the orators as a grave charge against the moral character of a man ([Dem.] c. Aristog. 1. p. 787.54; Lys. c. Phil. § 21, c. Alcib. 1.27), since the burial of the body by the relations of the dead was considered a religious duty by the universal law of the Greeks. Sophocles represents Antigone as disregarding all consequences in order to bury the dead body of her brother Polyneices, which Creon, the king of Thebes, had commanded to be left unburied. The common expressions for the funeral rites, τὰ δίκαια, νόμιμα or nomizo/mena, prosh/konta, show that the dead had, as it were, a legal and moral claim to burial.

Lucian, in his treatise de Luctu, gives a connected account of the customs connected with Greek funerals; and since this account does not differ materially from the information derived from the notices scattered through earlier literature, we may infer that no great change took place in the funeral customs of Greece in historical times.

At the moment of death the eyes and mouth were closed by one of those present (Hom. Od. 24.296; Plat. Phaed. 118). According to Lucian (de Luctu, 10, p. 926), the obol to serve as Charon's fare was at once placed in the mouth of the corpse. This coin was also called δανάκη (Hesych. s. v.). The custom is first mentioned by Aristophanes (Ran. 139), and does not appear to have been in use at a very early date. Confirmation of the practice is given by actual discoveries, for coins are frequently found in Greek tombs, and in some between the teeth of the skeleton. (Seyffert, de Nummis in ore defunctorum repertis, Dresden, 1712; Pottier et Reinach, La Nécropole de Myrina, p. 106. Other references in Hermann-Blümner, Privatalterth. p. 367.) The body was then washed (Plat. Phaed. 115 A; Eurip. Phoen. 1319, 1667), anointed with perfumes (Hom. Il. 18.350), and clothed in rich garments, generally white in colour (Paus. 4.13, 3; Artemidor. 2.3; Hom. Il. 18.353). These were buried or burnt with the body, but the number of them was limited by a law of Solon (Plut. Sol. 21). A wreath of flowers was placed upon the head (Eur. Phoen. 1632; Ar. Eccl. 538, Lys. 602). Golden wreaths, in imitation of laurel or other foliage, were sometimes used, and have been found in graves. (La Nécropole de Myrina, p. 105; Stephani, Compte Rendu, 1875, p. 17.)

The corpse, thus prepared, was laid out (πρόθεσις, προτίθεσθαι) on a bed (κλίνη), which appears to have been of the ordinary kind, with a pillow (προσκεφάλαιον) for supporting the head and back (Lys. c. Eratosth. § 18). By a law of Solon it was ordered that the πρόθεσις should take place inside the house (Lex ap. Dem. c. Macart. p. 1071.62). As among the Romans, the feet were turned towards the door (Hom. Il. 19.212; Hesych. s. v. διὲκ θυρῶν· τοὺς νεκροὺς οὕτω φασὶν ἑδράζεσθαι, ἔξω τοὺς πόδας ἔχοντας πρὸς τὰς αὐλείους θύρας). Vases of a special kind (λήκυθοι), probably containing perfumes, were placed beside the body (Ar. Eccl. 1032, 538; Schol. Plat. Hipp. Min. 368 C, λήκυθον δὲ ἀγγεῖόν τί φασιν οἱ Ἀττικοὶ ἐν ᾧ τοῖς νεκροῖς ἔφερον τὸ μύρον). Lekythi were also buried with the coffin, and a large number of them have been found in graves in Attica. Their usual shape is shown in the wood-cut under AMPULLAVol. I., p. 116 a. A few of them are in the ordinary black-and red-figured styles, but the greater number are of a special ware of great beauty, manufactured for funeral purposes. In this ware the ground is white, and scenes are painted upon it in bright colours, in a freer and less rigid style than in the vases with red or black figures. The scene most commonly represented is the bringing of offerings to the tomb; but in other cases we have a picture of some part of the funeral ceremonies, or of Charon preparing to ferry the shade across the Styx. The wood-cuts accompanying this article which represent the πρόθεσις and the offerings at the tomb are taken from, vase-paintings of this class. (See E. Pottier, Étude sur les Lécythes blancs Attiques, à representations funéraires, Paris, 1883; Benndorf, Griechische und Sicilische Vasenbilder, Berlin, 1869, &c.; Jahn, Beschreibung der Vasensammlung K. Ludwigs, cxxxi. ff.) A honey-cake (μελιτοῦττα), intended as a sop for Cerberus, was also placed by the side of the corpse (Ar. Lys. 601, and Schol. in loc., Ἡ μελιτοῦττα ἐδίδοτο τοῖς νεκροῖς ὡς εὶς τὸν Κέρβερον). Before the door a vessel of water was placed (ἀρδάνιον), in order that persons who had been in the house might purify themselves from the pollution of death by sprinkling water on their persons (Ar. Eccl. 1033 ; Poll. 8.65; Eur. Alc. 98).

The near relations of the deceased assembled round the bed on which he was laid, and uttered loud lamentations. Representations of such scenes have been found. Although more violent signs of grief were forbidden by Solon (Plut. Solon, c. 21; Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 3, 59), we find that Lucian (de Luctu, 12) mentions as accompaniments of the πρόθεσις, not only groaning and wailing, but also beating of breasts, tearing of hair, laceration of cheeks, rending of garments, and sprinkling of ashes upon the head. It was perhaps with the object of limiting the time for these excesses of grief that Solon ordained that the burial should take place on the day after the πρόθεσις, before sunrise (Demosth. c. Macart. 1. c.), and that Plato (Legg.. 12.959 A) laid down that the πρόθεσις should not last longer than was necessary to show that death had really taken place. Solon also commanded that no females under 60 years of age except the nearest relations (έντὸς ἀνεψιαδῶν) should be allowed to be present while the corpse was in the house (Demosth. l. c.). It appears that singers were hired to lead the mourning chant at the πρόθεσις (Hom. Il. 24.719ff.; Lucian, de Luctu, 20).

The accompanying woodcut, representing the πρόθεσις, is taken from Pottier, op. cit. pl. i.

The corpse lies upon a couch, and is covered with a rich garment. The head alone is unveiled, and is surrounded with a fillet. Two female figures stand beside the couch, with gestures of grief. One of them carries a tray or basket, across which two taeniae are laid. Other taeniae are placed across the couch. In the background is a mirror, or fan, perhaps intended for the keeping away of flies (cf. Dio Cass., 2; Cod. Justin. 7.6, 5). A list of other illustrations of the πρόθεσις is given by Pottier, p. 12, and Benndorf, Gr. u. Sic. Vasenb. p. 6. It is sufficient here to mention the Archemoros vase, a large amphora found at Ruvo (Gerhard, Archemoros u. die Hesperiden, pl. i.; Baumeister, Denkmäler, p. 114). In this the corpse of the boy Archemoros is laid upon a couch. One female places a wreath upon his head, while another holds a parasol over him. The παιδαγωγὸς stands at the foot of the couch, and two of the attendants carry tables upon which are vases of various kinds with taeniae attached. The centre group is alone given in the cut annexed.

The funeral (ἐκφορά, ἐκφέρειν) took place legally, as has been already remarked, on the day following the πρόθεσις. It might, however, be put off several days to allow of the arrival of distant friends (Plut. Tim. 39). The early morning was the usual time (Plato, Legg. 12.960 A; Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 6, 66; Heracl. Alleg. Hom. 100.68, η·ν δὲ παλαιὸν ἔθος τὰ σώματα τῶν καυνόντων ἐπειδὰν ἀναπαύσηται τοῦ βίου, μήτε ϝύκτωρ ἐκκομίζειν μήθ ὅταν ύπὲρ γῆς τὸ

μεσημβρινὸν ἐπιτείνηται θάλπος· ἀλλὰ πρὸς βαθὺν ὄρθρον ἀπύροις ἡλίου ἀκτῖσιν ἀνιόντος.) The body was carried on the couch on which it had been lying. In the inscription from Keos (Köhler, Mittheil. d. Arch. Inst. in Athen, 1876, 139 f., 1. 10; Dittenberger, Sylloge, 468) we find the direction that the corpse should be covered and carried in silence (τὸν θανόντα φέρειν κατακεκαλυμμένον σιωπῇ μέχρι τὸ σῆμα), but there is nothing to show that this was general. The bier was borne either by hired bearers (ϝεκροφόροι, Poll. 7.195), or, in cases where it was decided to honour the dead, by specially selected citizens (e. g. in the case of Timoleon, Plut. Tim. 39). The men walked before the corpse, and the women behind (Dem. l. c.), and it appears that musicians were hired to play mournful tunes on the flute and sing dirges (θρῆνοι) at the ἐκφορὰ as well as at the πρόθεσις (Plat. Legg. 7.800 E; Hesych. s. v. Καρίναι; Poll. 4.75). Those who accompanied the funeral wore mourning garments of a black or dark colour (Hom. Il. 24.93; Eurip. Alc. 427; Id. Hel. 1088; Xen. Hell, 1.7, 6; Plut. Per. 38). In an inscription from Gambreum in the neighbourhood of Pergamum (C. I. G. 2.3562; Dittenberger, 470) it is enjoined that the women should wear dark clothes (ἐσθὴς φαιά), while men and boys have the alternative of wearing white. The head was also shaved or the hair cut as a sign of grief (Hom. Od. 4.197; Il. 23.46, 135, 141, 146 ; Bion. Idyll. 1.81; Aesch. Cho. 7; Plutarch, Consol. ad Ux. 4, and some of the passages cited above as to the colour of the dress).

Representations of the ἐκφορὰ are rare. The foregoing woodcut represents a stamped terracotta plaque found at the Piraeus (in the collection of M. Rayet, Convoi Funèbre, No. 75). The corpse lies upon a couch. The head is bare; the rest of the body covered. The couch is placed upon a car drawn by two horses (more usually mules). Mourners accompany it with gestures of grief. A female attendant carries upon her head a vessel, probably to serve for libations. Another attendant plays upon the double flute. (Other representations: Micali, Monumenti per servire alla storia degli ant. popoli Italiani, pl. 96, 1 ; Monumenti d. Inst. 9.39, 40.)

It was the custom, at Athens at any rate, to hold public funerals for those who had fallen in war. Thucydides (Thuc. 2.34) describes with some minuteness the proceedings usual on such occasions. The πρόθεσις of the bones took place on a platform (or perhaps in a booth or tent) erected for the purpose in some public place (τὰ μὲν ὀστᾶ προτίθενται πρότριτα σκηνὴν ποιήσαντες). On the day of the funeral, coffins of cypress wood, one for each tribe, were carried upon waggons. Each coffin contained the bones of the members of the tribe to which it was assigned. An empty couch, adorned as for a funeral, was borne in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. The procession was accompanied by any citizens and aliens who wished to attend, and by women who were related to those who had fallen. In Greece, funeral orations were only pronounced at public funerals of the kind described, not, as at Rome, over individuals, even though they were specially distinguished (Dionys. 5.17). This custom seems to have arisen about the time of the Persian wars (Dionys. l. c.), and the two best known occasions of its use are those on which Pericles was the selected orator. The first of these was after the Samian war (B.C. 439), and the second at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. 2.34ff.). In other respects the procedure at a public funeral does not seem to have differed from that in use at private burials.

In spite of the statement of Lucian (de Luctu, 21) that the Greeks burnt their dead and the Persians buried them, it is certain, both from literary evidence and also from the excavation of tombs, that burning and burying were both practised by the Greeks. The word θάπτειν is used of the burial of the ashes after cremation, but κατορύττειν refers only to the burial of an unburnt body. Hence when in the Phaedo (115 E) Socrates speaks of his body as ἤ καιόμενον ἤ κατορυττόμενον, it is clear that both methods were in use. We hear of burial also among the Spartans (Plut. Lyc. 27; Thucyd. 1.134). In Homer we have no mention of any burial without burning; but in graves at Mycenae skeletons were found which showed no traces of fire. Evidence both of burning and burying has been found in graves of a later date in many parts of the Greek world (for references, see Hermann-Blümner, Privatalterth. p. 375). In particular the cemetery of Myrina may be mentioned, where the careful investigations of MM. Reinach and Pottier showed that burning and burial had been in use simultaneously, and that burial had been far the commoner way (La Nécropole de Myrina, p. 73).

The pile of wood (πυρά) upon which the body was burnt, was sometimes erected over the grave in which the ashes were to be buried. This is proved by the fact that at Myrina the sides of some of the tombs showed traces of fire. We have a full description of cremation in the Homeric period in Il. 23.161 ff., where Achilles celebrates the funeral of Patroclus. The pyre is made a hundred feet in length and breadth, and the bodies of sheep, oxen, horses, dogs, and twelve Trojan captives are placed upon it. Honey and perfumes are also poured upon it before it is lighted. From Lucian it appears that similar sacrifices were customary at a much later time (πόσοι γὰρ καὶ ἵππους καὶ παλλακίδας, οἱ δὲ καὶ οἰνοχόους ἐπικατέσφαξαν καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὸν ἄλλον κόσμον συγκατέφλεξαν ἤ συγκατώρυξαν, de Luclu, 14). When the pyre was burnt down, the remains of the fire were quenched with wine, and the relatives and friends collected the bones or ashes (Il. 24.791. Illustrated on vases: Gerhard, Ant. Bildw. pl. 31 = Baumeister, Denkm. p. 307, fig. 322; and Bull. Napol. 3.14 = Baumeister, Denkm. p. 308, fig. 323). The remains thus collected were placed in a receptacle sometimes of gold, but generally of a less precious material, and buried. A description of these receptacles, of the other articles placed in the tomb, and of the tomb itself, will be found in the article SEPULCRUM.

When bodies were buried without previous cremation, they were generally placed in coffins, which were called by various names, as σοροί, πύελοι, ληνοί, λάρνακες, δροῖται, though some of these names were also applied to the urns in which the bones were collected. The lowering of a coffin into the grave is represented in a vase-painting. (Mon. Inst. viii. pl. 4, 1 b; Baumeister, Denkm. p. 306.) For further information upon this point, see Stackelberg (Die Gräber der Hellenen, pl. 7, 8) and art. SEPULCRUM

Immediately after the funeral was over, the relations partook of a feast which was called περίδεπνον or νεκρόδειπνον (Luc. de Luctu, 24; Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 5, 63; Hegesipp. ap. Athen. 7.290 c). It was the custom that this feast should be given at the house of the nearest relative (Dem. de Cor. p. 321.355, δέον ποιεῖν αὐτοὺς τὸ περίδειπνον ὡς παῤ οἰκειοτάτῳ τῶν τετελευτηκότων). A number of bas-reliefs have been found representing a meal or banquet. These are known as banquet-reliefs; and it is often supposed that we have in them a picture of the περίδειπνον. This view, however, cannot be considered as established. (See P. Gardner, A Sepulchral Relief from, Tarentum, J. H. S. 5. p. 105 ; Welcker, Alte Denkmäler, 2.242 ff.; Lebas, Monum. d'Antiq. figur. p. 89 ff.; Pervanoglu, Das Familienmahl auf altgriech. Grabsteinen, Leipzig, 1872; Milchhöfer in Mitth. 4.161; P. Girard, L'Asclépieion d'Athènes, p. 102 ff. Other references to literature on the subject: Hermann-Blümner, Privatalt. 385.) The annexed cut, which represents a relief of this class, is taken from the Marmora Oxon. i. tab. 52, No. 135.

Other ceremonies were performed on the third, the ninth, and the thirtieth days after the funeral, and were called respectively τρίτα, ἔνατα, and τριακὰς or τριακάδες. (Pollux. 8.146. See also Schömann on Isaeus, p. 217.) Aristoph. (Lysistr. 611, with Schol.) alludes to the τρίτα. The ἔνατα are sometimes mentioned in connexion with the τρίτα (Isaeus, Menecl. § 36), sometimes separately (Id. Cir. § 39). The rites on the thirtieth day (Pollux, l. c. and 1.66, 3.102; Lexx. s. v. τριακάς) included a repetition of the funeral feast (Bekk. Anecd. p. 268, 19, καθέδραι, ὑποδοχαὶ ἀνθρώπων· τῇ τριακοστῇ γὰρ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ ἀποθανόντος οἱ προσήκοντες ἅπαντες καὶ ἀναγκαῖοι συνελθόντες κοινῇ ἐδείπνουν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀποθανόντι, καὶ τοῦτο καθέδρα ἐκαλεῖτο). The τριακοστεῖα are forbidden in the inscription from Keos (Mitth. 1.139; Dittenberger, Sylloge, No. 468).

It was also the custom to bring offerings to the tomb on certain days in each year (ἐναγίζειν καθ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτόν, Isaeus, Menecl. § 46; Plat. Legg. 4.717 E: τὰ ἐνιαύσια in the inscr. from Keos). Herodotus mentions that these annual sacrifices to the dead were called γενέσια (4.26), from which it is inferred that they were offered on the birthday of the deceased (compare Diog. Laert.). The name νεκύσια was also used in the same sense (Hesychius, Γενέσια, ἑορτὴ πένθιμος Ἀθηναίοις · οἱ δὲ τὰ νεκύσια. καὶ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, τῇ γῇ θύουσι). The ceremonies which were performed at these stated intervals might be used at any other time, if for some reason it was necessary to appease the departed spirit. The word ἐναγίζειν was used for the act of offering, ἐναγίσματα for the things offered on these occasions. These consisted of libations (χοαί) of wine, oil, milk, honey mixed with water or milk (Aesch. Pers. 609ff.; Eur. Or. 113 ff.), which were poured upon the ground (γάποτοι, Aesch. Pers. 621, Choeph. 97). Elaborate banquets were sometimes prepared, burnt in honour of the dead, and buried in a trench (Lucian. Char. 22). Wreaths were also placed upon the grave-stones, and they were anointed with perfumes (ib.).

The best idea of the rites performed at the grave is given by the numerous representations of them on Lekythi of the class already described. About 600 of these Lekythi have been found, and of these five-sixths bear representations of the bringing of offerings to the tomb. There is little variation in the scene. In the centre is the tomb, generally marked by a stele, sometimes by a mound. The stele is adorned with taeniae, by which sometimes Lekythi are suspended. Several persons on either side of the stele bring offerings of wreaths, taeniae, vases, birds, fruits, libations, and so forth. These persons are generally standing, but sometimes one is sitting on the pedestal on which the stele stands, or on a seat placed beside it. The following cut, which represents one of these scenes, is taken from Millin, Peint. de Vases, vol. ii. pl. 27. The tomb is in the form of a ἡρῷον, and upon it is a representation of the deceased. References to works in which vases of this class have been published are given by Pottier, Étude sur les Lécythes blancs Attiques à representations funéraires, p. 51. Much importance was attached to the due performance of these annual rites (Isaeus, de Men. Her. § 46; de Apoll. Her. § 30; de Philoct. Her. § 51). In an inscription from Thera (C. I. G. 2448) we have a case in which a woman Epikteta left by will a sum of money for the purpose of celebrating annual sacrifices at her tomb.

The period of mourning varied in length at different places. At Athens the τριακὰς seems to have ended it, on the thirtieth day after the funeral (Lysias, de caede Erat. § 14). At Sparta it only lasted eleven days (Plut. Lyc. 27). In the inscription from Gambreum near Pergamum, it is ordered that men are to lay aside mourning in the fourth month, women in the fifth (C. L. G. 3562; Dittenberger, 470, 1. 10, ἐπιτελεῖν δὲ τὰ ϝόμιμα τοῖς ἀποιχομένοις ἔσχατον ἐν τρισὶ μησίν, τῷ δὲ τετάρτῳ λύειν τὰ πένθη τοὺς ἄνδρας, τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας τῷ πέμπτῳ).

Certain special rites were used in particular cases. A spear was carried in front of the body of any person who had died a violent death, as a symbol of the revenge which was to follow the murderer ([Dem.] in Euerg. et Mnes, p. 1160.87; Eur. Troad. 1148; Lexx. s. v. ἐπενεγκεῖν δόρυ). In the case of those who had committed suicide, the hand which had done the deed was cut off and buried separately. (Aeschin. in Ctes. § 244, καὶ ἐάν τις αὑτὸν διαχρήσηται τὴν χεῖρα τὴν τοῦτο πράξασαν χωρὶς τοῦ σώματος θάπτομεν). Certain criminals, who were put to death by the state, were also deprived of burial, which was considered to be an additional punishment (Plut. Them. 22; Thuc. 1.134). The bodies of those persons who had been struck by lightning were regarded as sacred (ἱεροὶ νεκροί); they were not buried with others (Eur. Suppl. 935), but usually on the spot where they had been struck (Artemid. Oneirocr. 2.9, p. 146). [BIDENTAL]

It has been already mentioned that in public funerals of those killed in war, an empty couch was carried in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. In other cases, where a person was supposed to be dead, though his body was not found, funeral rites were performed for him (Eur. Hel. 1241ff.; Charit. 4.1). If such a person was afterwards found to be alive, he was considered impure, and was not allowed to enter temples till certain rites had been performed. These rites consisted in an imitation of birth and the ceremonies connected with it. The δευτερόποτμος or ὑστερόποτμος (these were the names which were given to δ δεύτερον διὰ γυναικείου κόλπου διαδύς, Hesych. s. v.) was washed, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and fed with milk. Having been thus born again into life, he was freed from his impurity (Plut. Q. R. 5).

[Much of the literature bearing on special points has been referred to in the course of this article. For a general account of the subject, the most important books are J. Meursius, de Funere; Stackelberg, Die Graber der Hellenen; Becker, Charicles, 4th English edition, pp. 383-402=Becker-Göll, 3.114-167 ; Wachsmuth, Das alte Griechenland im neuen, pp. 105-125--the ancient customs compared with the modern--and especially Hermann-Blümner, Privatalterth. p. 361 ff., where further references to literature on the subject will be found.]

2. Roman.

Among the Romans also the burial of the dead was a most solemn duty. It was incumbent upon anyone who found an unburied body at least to cast earth upon it three times (Hor. Od. 1.28; Quintil. Declam. 5, 6; Petron. 114). If no funeral rites had been performed, the soul of the dead man could not be received among the shades, and wandered homeless upon the earth (Tertull. de An. 56, Creditum est insepultos non ante ad inferos redigi, quam justa perceperint; Plaut. Mostell. 499 ; Serv. ad Aen. 4.386).

A near relation of the dying person caught the last breath in his mouth (Verg. A. 4.684; Cic. Ver. 5.4. 5, 118, and perhaps Ov. Tr. 4.3, 41). As soon as he was dead his eyes were closed by one of those present (claudere oculos, Lucan. Phars. 3.740; premere, Verg. Aen. ix, 187; condere, Ov. Tr. 3.3, 44; tegere, ib. 4.3, 44; operire, Plin. Nat.11.150). This is shown on a relief on a sepulchral urn from Volterra (Arch. Ztg. 1846, plate 47; Baumeister's Denkm. p. 309). Then followed the conclamatio, variously explained as (1) a cry in articulo mortis, which seems probable from Propert. 5.7, 23 ; Ov. Tr. 3.3, 43: (2) the recall of the dead by uttering his or her name three times, in order to ascertain the fact of death if there was no answer, a custom still in use at the death-bed of a pope: (3) as commonly understood, the lamentation for the dead when there was no longer any possibility of doubt; thus Marquardt (Privatl. 336). The mourners called repeatedly the name of the deceased, with loud cries, and exclamations such as vale (Lucan. Phars. 2.22; Catull. ci.; Ov. Met. 10.62; Fasti, 4.852). We may infer from a Roman relief (Baumeister, Denkm. p. 309, after Clarac, Mus. de Sculpt. pl. 154) which seems to represent the conclamatio, that horns were blown at the same time.

The body was then washed with warm water (Verg. A. 6.218) and anointed with perfumes and spices (Persius, 3.103; Ov. Fast. 4.853). That this took place after the conclamatio we learn from Ammian. 30.10: Post conclamata imperatoris suprema, corpusque curatum ad sepulturam. The corpse was then clothed either in the toga (Juven. 3.173, and Mayor's note; Mart. 9.57, 8; Paulus, Dig. 15.3, 19; Artemidor. Oneirocr. 2.3), or in the state robes of any office which had been held by the deceased (Liv. 34.7; Plb. 6.53). The garments in which the corpse was clothed were sometimes splendid and costly (vestes purpureae, Verg. A. 6.221; pretiosae, Val. Max., 4. For gold stuffs found in tombs, see Raoul-Rochette, Troisième Mém. sur les Ant. chrét. des Catacombes, Mém. de l'Acad. d'Inscr. 13.1838, pp. 641-650, 735, 736). Precious ornaments were often added. Rings, for example, are often found in graves, and we learn from Prop. 4.7, 9( et solitam digito beryllon adederat ignis), that they were sometimes burnt with the body. If the deceased had, when alive, received a crown as a reward for bravery or for success in the games of the circus, it was placed upon his head (Cic. de Legg.. 2.24, 60; Plin. Nat.21.7; Serv. ad Aen. 11.80). Gold wreaths have in several cases been found with skeletons (Bull. dell' Inst. 1835, 203-205; Raoul--Rochette, p. 653). Flowers were also used for the adornment of the couch on which the corpse was laid ; and a censer (acerra) was placed beside it (Fest. Epit. p. 18). The annexed cut from a Roman relief in the Lateran Museum (Baumeister, p. 239, after Mon. Inst. v. tav. 6) represents the lectus funebris, on which the corpse of a female lies dressed. Two female mourners (praeficae) stand behind, and by their side a man in the act of putting a garland on the head of the corpse. On each side of the lectus funebris is a torch. On the left side is a female blowing the flute, and above another with folded hands; on the right side sit three females, wearing the pilleus (probably manumitted slaves): below is the family of the deceased. Among the Romans, as among the Greeks, it was customary to place a small coin in the mouth of the deceased, for the purpose of paying Charon's passage-money. This is alluded to by Juvenal (3.267) and Propertius (Prop. 4.11, 7), but not by earlier writers. Coins, however, have been found in graves of an earlier date than the Second Punic War (C. I. L. 1. p. 27); and in graves at Praeneste, dating from the third century B.C., coins were actually found in the mouths of the skeletons (Annali, 1835, p. 76; C. I. L. 1. p. 28). In the imperial times the practice was common and widely extended.

The preparations necessary for the due laying out of the body were performed by the Pollinctores (Plaut. Asin. 5.2, 60; Poen. Prol. 63). Two derivations of this word are given by the ancients, both equally improbable, but giving an indication of the functions of the pollinctor: Dicti autem pollinctores quasi pollutorum unctores (Fulgentius, de Serm. Ant. 3); a polline, quo mortuis os oblinebant ne livor appareret extincti (Serv. ad Aen. 9.483). It is probable also that the pollinctor took the mould of the dead man's face, from which the wax imago was made, to be kept in the atrium of the house by his descendants, and used in funeral processions in a way shortly to be described. The pollinctor was furnished by the Libitinarius or undertaker, who entered into a contract for conducting the whole funeral. The latter got his name from the fact that he exercised his business at the temple or grove of Libitina, the goddess of corpses and funerals: ἐπίσκοπον τῶν περὶ τοὺς θνήσκοντας δσίων θεὸν οὖσαν (Plut. Num. 12.1; Quaest. Rom. 23; Liv. 40.19, 41.21-Z2; Mayor's note on Juven. 12.121). Deaths were also registered at this temple (Suet. Nero 39; Dion. Halic. 4.15); and the offering called lucar Libitinae was made [LUCAR]. Undertakers are said exercere Libitinam (Val. Max., 10), and the expressions vitare Libitinam, evadere Libitinam are used in the sense of escaping death (Hor. Carm. 3.30, 6 : cf. Sat. 2.6, 19; Juven. 12.121).

When the body had been thus prepared and adorned, it was laid upon a couch of state, generally in the atrium of the house, with the feet towards the door (Plin. Nat.7.146; Pers. 3.105). Outside the door of the house were placed branches of cypress or pine (Plin. Nat.16. § § 40 and 139; Serv. ad Aen. 3.64), for the purpose of warning those who might be polluted by entering a house in which was a corpse (Servius, l. c.). The cypress was apparently only used by those of good position (et non plebeios luctus testata cupressus, Lucan (Luc. 3.442). We are told by Servius (ad Aen. 5.64) that the corpse lay in state for seven days before burial. This can only have been the case in exceptional circumstances, when some form of embalming was used.

Funerals were conducted by the family of the deceased (funus privatum) except in cases where a public funeral (funus publicum) was voted, either by the senate (Cic. Phil. 9.7) or in provincial towns by the decuriones, as a mark of honour or respect to the deceased. (The formula Hinc decuriones funus publicum . . . locum sepulturae decreverunt occurs in inscriptions: Mommsen, I. N. 5250; C. I. L. 3.3055, 3128, 3137: see Wilmanns, 296 ff., and variations of the formulae given there.) We find this honour paid in the case of foreign kings who died in Italy, as Syphax and Perseus (Val. Max., 1); and men who had fallen in the service of their country, as Hirtius and Paus. (Val. Max., 10). In imperial times it became commoner. Sometimes, though a funus publicum was not voted, a subscription was raised to meet the funeral expenses, as in the cases of Menenius Agrippa (Liv. 2.33, 12), Valerius Publicola (Liv. 3.18, 16), and Q. Fabius Maximus (Val. Max., 3). A particular kind of funeral was appropriate to each grade of the magistracy; the highest being the censorium funus (Tac. Ann. 4.15, 6.27-Z2, 13.2-Z2; Hist. 4.47).

A public invitation was given to all important portant funerals by a herald (praeco). Hence the phrases funus indicere, funus indictivum (Suet. jul. 84; Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 4, 61; Varro, L. L. 5.160, 7.42; Festus, p. 334 b, 27, and Epit. p. 106, s. v.). The formula of invitation has been preserved: Ollus Quiris leto datus. Exsequias, quibus est commodum, ire jam tempus est. Ollus ex aedibus effertur. (Varro, ll. cc.; Festus, p. 254 d, 34: cf. Ov. Am. 2.6, 2; Sil. Ital.; Ter. Phorm. 5.9, 37.) Translaticium funus is used for an unceremonious burial (Suet. Nero 33).

In ancient times all funerals took place by night (Serv. ad Aen. 11.143, apud Romanos moris fuit ut noctu efferrentur ad funalia); in later times only those of children (acerba funera; Serv. l. c. moris Romani erat ut impuberes noctu efferrentur ad faces; Sen. de brev. Vit. 20, 5; de Tranq. Animi, 2.7), and poor people whose means did not admit of sufficient display for the day-time (Fest. Epit. p. 368; Mart. 8.75). The Emperor Julian issued an edict ordering that all funerals should take place at night, in order that the ordinary business of the day and the worship of the gods might not be interrupted. That funerals in the day-time were a serious obstruction we learn from Hor. Ep. 1.6, 42. The torches with which funerals were always accompanied were probably a relic of burial by night, though no doubt they also served for lighting the pyre. (Verg. A. 11.142, 7.337-Z2; Tac. Ann. 3.4, at the funeral of Germanicus, conlucentes per Campum Martis faces; Pers. 3.102; Mart. 8.43; Prop. 5.11, 46, Viximus insignes inter utramque facem.)

An opportunity for the display of splendour was given by the funeral procession, and was so largely used by families of wealth and position, that we find sumptuary laws to regulate such expenses among the Tables of the Decemviri (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 3, 59) and the enactments of Sulla (Plut. Sull. 35). The order of the funeral procession was regulated by the designator or dissignator, whose attendants were dressed in black. Their being called lictors by Horace appears to be only a joke (Ep. 1.7, 5, where Acron says, Designatores dicuntur qui ad Lucum Libitinae funeri praestanti conducuntur ut defuncti cum honore efferantur). The order in which the various parts of the procession came is uncertain, but it is generally supposed that at the head of it were the Musicians (siticines, Ateius Capito ap. Gell. 20.2), who made use of tubae (Gell. l. c.; Ovid. Am. 2.6, 6), tibiae (Stat. Theb. 6.121; Suet. Jul. 84; Ov. Fast. 6.653), and cornua (Hor. Sat. 1.6, 44). The number of tibicines was by the Twelve Tables limited to ten (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 3, 59). Then followed (at any rate in earlier times) the mourning women, called Praeficae (Non. p. 66: Praeficae dicebantur apud veteres quae adhiberi solent funeri mercede conductae ut et flerent et fortia facta laudarent, Hor. A. P. 431; Varr. L. L. 7.70), who sang the naenia or lessus, a mournful song in praise of the dead man (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 4, 62; Varr. de Vita P. R. lib. iv.). These Praeficae are probably represented (before the funeral procession, while the body is still lying in state) in an Etruscan relief (Abeken, Mittelitalien, pl. viii.), which is reproduced in the woodcut below.

Then followed in some cases dancers and mimes (Dionys. 7.72, εἶδον δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀνδρῶν ἐπισήμων ταφαῖς ἅμα ταῖς ἄλλαις πομπαῖς προηγουμένους τῆς κλίνης τοὺς σατυριστὰς

χοροὺς κινουμένους τὴν σικίννην ὄρχησιν, μάλιστα δ' ἐν τοῖς τῶν εὐδαιμόνων κήδεσιν· artifices scenici, Suet. Jul. 84), who were allowed, as in a triumph, free licence of jesting. We learn from Suetonius (Vesp. 19) that it was the custom for the archimimus to wear a mask in the likeness of the deceased, to imitate his speech and manners, and even to make jests at his expense.

The most striking part of the procession was probably formed by the imagines. We are told by Polybius (Plb. 6.53) that the imagines, or wax masks representing distinguished ancestors of the deceased, were brought out from their resting-place in the atrium, and each was worn by a man chosen to resemble as nearly as possible the person whom he was supposed to represent, and clothed in the dress of the office which the prototype of the mask had held. Each rode upon a chariot, and was accompanied with due pomp of lictors and other insignia of his office. Thus all the distinguished ancestors of the dead man were present in effigy at his funeral ( semper defuncto aliquo totus aderat familiae ejus qui unquam fuerat populus, Plin. Nat.35.6). If he was of good birth, many families to which he was related were represented by their imagines (Tac. Ann. 3.76; 4.9-Z2), and the actual number was sometimes very great. At the funeral of Marcellus there are said to have been 600 (Serv. ad Acn. 6.802).

Sometimes as a special honour spoils, crowns, and other records of victories and triumphs were carried before the bier. This was done in the case of Augustus (Tac. Ann. 1.8; Dio Cass.) and Coriolanus (Dionys. 8.59). The procession was also swelled by the slaves who were liberated by the will of the deceased, all with shorn heads, wearing the pilleus (Liv. 38.55; Appian, Mithr. 2; Cod. Justin. 7, 6, 5: Sed et qui domini funus pileati antecedunt vel in ipso lectulo stantes cadaver ventilare videntur, si hoc ex voluntate fiat vel testatoris vel heredis, fiant ilico cives Romani). The bier itself was sometimes carried by these liberated slaves (Pers. 3.106).

The body was placed uncovered on a bier or couch (feretrum, torus), which in great funerals was elaborately decorated (Suet. Jul. 84). In some cases, probably when decay had begun to disfigure the features, the body was placed in a coffin (capulus), and a waxen representation (effigies) was exposed to view instead (Tac. Ann. 3.5; Sil. Ital.; Appian, App. BC 2.147; Dio Cass., 74.4, 2; Herodian, 4.2, 2). The bier was carried, as mentioned above, by liberated slaves, by near relations (Velleius, 1.11; Plin. Nat.7.146; Cic. Tusc. 1.3. 5, 85; Val. Max., 1; Hor. Sat. 2.5, 86), or, in the case of emperors, by magistrates and senators (Suet. Jul. 84, Aug. 100; Tac. Ann. 1.8).

In the burial of the poor and of slaves of course all this pomp was absent. Hired bearers (vespillones), six (Mart. 6.77, 10) or four (ib. 8.75, 9) in number, carried the body in a simple wooden coffin or bier, which was not buried with the body (sandapila, Mart. 2.81, 9.2-Z2, 12; popularis sandapila, Suet. Dom. 17; orciniana sponda, Mart. 10.5, 9; vilis area, Hor. Sat. 1.8, 9).

The relations of the deceased followed behind the bier, dressed in mourning. The sons of the deceased had their heads veiled, while the daughters went uncovered and with dishevelled hair (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 11). Mourning was shown by very much the same signs as in modern times, viz. by the absence of adornment and the wearing of black garments (Juven. 10.245; Prop. 5.7, 28; Tac. Ann. 3.2; pullus, Juven. 3.213). Under the Emperors white seems to have been substituted for black as the mourning colour for women (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 26; Herodian, 4.2, 3; Stat. Silv. 3.3, 3). The women were also in the habit of crying aloud, tearing their hair and lacerating their cheeks in the funeral procession itself (Prop. 3.13, 27; Serv. ad Aen. 3.67, Varro dicit mulieres in exsequiis et luctu ideo solitas ora lacerare, ut sanguine ostenso inferis satisfaciant).

In this order the funeral train proceeded to the forum. There it halted before the rostra, the wearers of the imagines took their seats upon curule chairs, and the laudatio funebris was pronounced, generally by a close relation of the deceased (Plb. 6.53; Dionys. 5.17, 11.39-Z2; Plut. Luc. 43; Hor. Sat. 1.6, 43); though in the case of a funus publicum this function might be assigned by a senatusconsultum to one of the magistrates (Quintil. Instit. 3.7, 2). Dionysius (l. c.) expressly tells us that the laudatio was entirely different from the ἔπαινος, which in Greece was pronounced over the grave of soldiers who had been killed in war; for the laudatio was used in the case of all distinguished men, whether soldiers or statesmen, and without regard to the way in which they had died. The custom at Rome was very ancient. The earliest instance recorded is the panegyric delivered by Publicola over his colleague Brutus (B.C. 509); from that time onwards it is frequently mentioned both in republican and imperial times, and there are traces of it even after the introduction of Christianity. These funeral orations were preserved (Cic. Brut. 16, 61) and sometimes published (Plut. Fab. 24; Plin. Nat.7.139; Suet. Jul. 6), but Cicero and Livy both point out that they were untrustworthy as records of fact (Cic. Brut. 16, 61, his laudationibus historia rerum nostrarum est facta mendosior; Liv. 8.40, 4, Vitiatam memoriam funebribus laudibus reor).

The honour of the laudatio seems to have been given by special decree or permission in each case, and not by any defined qualification (Dionys. 9.54; Tac. Ann. 3.76). Women were not excluded from it; though there was some uncertainty, even among the ancients, as to the date at which the usage was first extended to them (Plut. Camill. 8; Liv. 5.50, 5; Cic. de Or. 2.1. 1, 44).

From the forum the procession moved on to the place of burning or burial, which, according to a law of the Twelve Tables, was obliged to be outside the city, though special exceptions were sometimes made (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 3, 58). [SEPULCRUM] Both burning and burial were in use among the Romans. Cicero (de Legg. 2.22, 56) and Pliny (Plin. Nat.7.187) both hold the view that burial was the more ancient custom. Pliny further says that burning was introduced because it was found that the bodies of those killed in distant countries and buried there were dug up and scattered by the enemy. We may conjecture, however, that the change was partly brought about by motives of health and convenience. In certain families the practice of burial was kept up, after burning had become general. Sulla was the first of the Cornelii to be burnt. The reason, according to Cicero and Pliny, of the departure from the custom of his family was, that he feared lest his own bones should receive the same treatment as he had given to those of Marius. In later times burning became far more common than burial, though the latter was always used in the case of children who died before they had cut their teeth ( Hominem priusquam genito dente cremari mos gentium non est, Plin. Nat.7.72; Juven. 15.140), and in the case of those who had been struck by lightning. [BIDENTAL] It seems also that persons of the poorest classes were always buried. After the introduction of Christianity, and probably through its influence, burial again came into use instead of burning. Sarcophagi, which are rare in the first century at Rome, become common in the third and fourth, and Macrobius (at the end of the fourth cent.) says that burning was no longer in use in his time ( licet urendi corpora defunctorum usus nostro saeculo nullus sit).

The view that burial was older than cremation is confirmed by some Roman customs. According to Pontifical law, the essential part of the funeral ceremony was the casting of earth upon the face of the corpse (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 2, 57, priusquam in os injecta gleba est, locus ille ubi crematum est corpus nihil habet religionis). Again, when a body was to be burnt, it was the custom to cut off some portion of it, called os resectum, which was subsequently buried (Fest. Epit. p. 148, Membrum abscidi mortuo dicebatur, quum digitus ejus decidebatur, ad quod servatum justa fierent, reliquo corpore combusto; Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 2, 57; Varr. L. L. 5.23; Plut. Q. B. 24, 60, 79; Reinach and Pottier, La Nécropole de Myrina, p. 75). By this means the newer and more convenient method was adopted, while the ancient regulation which prescribed burial was still carried out.

The remaining, rites varied, according as the body was to be buried or burnt. In the case of burial the body was placed in the grave either on the bier on which it had been carried, or in a sarcophagus. Numerous objects were also placed in the grave. (For an account of them and of the different kinds of graves, see SEPULCRUM) The ceremonies which followed had the double object of making the grave a locus religiosus, and of purifying the family and house which had been defiled by the presence of a corpse. Earth was thrown upon the face of the dead (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 2, 57), a pig was sacrificed (ib.), and an offering was made to the Lares (ib. 22, 55). The day on which these sacrifices took place was called feriae denicales (Fest. Epit. p. 70). A funeral feast called silicernium was also held, apparently on the day of the funeral, and by the grave (Varr. ap. Non. p. 48, 8). The period of mourning lasted nine days (novendiale), though it is uncertain whether this period was reckoned from the day of death or the day of burial (Serv. ad Aen. 5.64; Porphyr. ad Hor. Epod. 17, 48; Apuleius, Met. 9.30, 31). At the end of this period a sacrificium novendiale was offered to the dead (Porphyr. l. c.), and a cena novendialis was held (Tac. Ann. 6.5).

The burning of a body sometimes took place at the spot where the ashes were to be interred. In this case the funeral pile (rogus, pyra) was erected over the trench which was subsequently to be the grave (bustum). The body, however, was often burnt at a place near the monument, specially destined for this purpose, ustrinum, ustrina (Fest. Epit. p. 32). The pyre was built of wood, in the form of an altar (Verg. A. 6.177, and Servius in loc.). A law of the Twelve Tables ordered that it should not be smoothed with an axe ( rogum ascia ne polito, Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 3, 59). They were sometimes painted (Plin. Nat.35.49), the sides might be covered with dark leaves (Verg. A. 6.216), and cypress-trees were placed in front (Verg. l. c.; Ov. Tr. 3.13, 21; Sil. Ital.). On the top of the pile the corpse was placed, with the couch on which it had been carried (Tibull. 1.1, 61). Many things were placed on the pyre by the relations and mourners, such as clothes, arms (Lucan (Luc. 9.175), ornaments, hunting nets and apparatus (see a will preserved in an inscription, Wilmanns, 315), horses, dogs, birds (Plin. Ep. 4.2). It was also sprinkled with perfumes, gums, and spices (Stat. Silv. 2.1, 158; 5.1, 210; Mart. 10.97; Lucan (Luc. 8.729; Plin. Nat.12.83), though sumptuosa respersio was forbidden by the Twelve Tables (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 4, 60).

The pyre was lighted by one of the relations, with face turned away (Verg. A. 6.224). When it was burnt down, the glowing ashes were extinguished with water or wine (Verg. A. 6.226; Stat. Silv. 2.6, 90; Plin. Nat.14.12). Those who had taken part in the funeral uttered a last farewell (Verg. A. 2.644, 1.219-Z2, 3.68-Z2, 11.97-Z2, and Servius' notes) and departed, while the nearest relations remained to collect the bones and ashes when they were dry. This was probably done as a rule on the day of the funeral. The case of Augustus (Dio Cass.) seems to have been exceptional. The bones were sprinkled with wine (though it is not certain that this sprinkling is to be separated from that mentioned above), dried with a linen cloth, and placed in an urn or box with perfumes and spices (for a description of the various kinds of receptacle used, see SEPULCRUM). Tibullus describes minutely this part of the funeral (3.2, 19 ff. See also Or. Trist. 3.3, 69; Fast. 3.561). The urn was then placed in the sepulchre [SEPULCRUM].

It has already been mentioned that if the body was burnt, the os resectum was buried separately. The ceremonies of the feriae denicales were used, as in the case of the burial, including the throwing of earth upon the remains of the dead (Cic. de Legg. 2.2. 2, 57). It does not appear at what moment this was done; but the object of it was to consecrate the place of burial, to make it a locus religiosus. After the bones and ashes of the deceased had been placed in the urn, the persons present were thrice sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of olive or laurel, for the purpose of purification (Verg. A. 6.229; Serv. in loc.); after which they were dismissed by the praefica or some other person, by the solemn word Ilicet, that is, ire licet (Serv. l. c.). In the case of burning the practices connected with the silicernium and the novendiale seem to have been the same as in the case of burial (see above). When those who had accompanied the funeral returned home, they underwent a purification called suffitio, which consisted in being sprinkled with water and stepping over a fire (Festus, p. 3, s. v. Aqua et igni). It was then also perhaps that the house was swept with a special kind of broom. ( Nam exverrae sunt, purgatio quaedam domus, ex qua mortuus ad sepulturam ferendus est, quae fit per everriationem certo genere scoparum adhibito, ab extra verrendo dictarum, Festus, p. 58, s. v. Everriator.).

In the case of important funerals, scenic or gladiatorial exhibitions were often given. Gladiatorial combats were originally specially appropriated to funerals, and the word munus is used in a special sense for these exhibitions, as a service due to the dead (Tertull. Spect. 100.12). Munera in connexion with funerals are frequently mentioned by Livy (Liv. Epit. 16; 23.30; 31.50; 39.46; 41.28) and others Suet. Jul. 26; Plin. Nat.33.53; Cic. pro Sest. 58, 124, &c.). Provision was sometimes made for these shows in the will (C. I. L. 1.1190 = Wilmanns, 2037; Cic. in Vatin. 15, 37; pro Sulla, 19, 54; Hor. Sat. 2.3, 84). Scenic exhibitions were less common; but the Didascalia to the Adelphi of Terence tells us that that play was performed at the ludi funebres of Aemilius Paullus (B.C. 160), and we are informed by Livy that ludi scenici as well as gladiatorial combats were exhibited at the death of T. Flamininus (B.C. 174). We also hear of distributions of food (visceratio, Liv. 8.22, 39.46-Z2, 41.28-Z2) and public banquets (Suet. Jul. 26; Liv. 41.28).

It remains to give some account of the annual rites performed at the tombs in honour of the manes. Certain days in February (13th-21st) were set apart as dies parentales, or parentalia. The last of these days was specially known as feralia (Ov. Fast. 2.569; Cic. ad Att. 8, 14, 1; Liv. 35.7). The ceremonies performed at this time are described by Ovid (Ov. Fast. 2.533 ff.). Offerings to the Manes (inferiae) were brought to the tomb. These consisted of wine and milk (Verg. A. 5.77, 98, 3.66-Z2; Sil. Ital.), honey and oil (Wilmanns, 883=Orelli, 642), the blood of victims, especially of black sheep, pigs and cattle (Verg. A. 3.67, 5.96-Z2; Arnob. 7.20), various fruits, bread, salt (Ovid, l. c.; Plutarch, Plut. Crass. 19), and eggs (Juven. 5.84). The tomb was also adorned with wreaths and flowers, especially roses and violets (Ov. l. c.; Suet. Nero 57; Verg. A. 5.79, 6.884-Z2; Tibull. 2.6, 32, &c.). A meal was also eaten at the grave (Cic. pro Flacco, 38, 95). A triclinium funebre, intended apparently for this purpose, was found at Pompeii and is represented in the accompanying woodcut. During the dies parentales temples were shut and marriages forbidden (Ov. Fast. 2.557 ff.), and the magistrates laid aside the insignia of their office (Lydus, de Mens. 4.24). The terms parentare, parentatio, were also applied to similar rites performed on other days of the year, such as the day of birth, death, or burial of the person to be honoured. Special days were also appropriated to roses and violets (rosatio, rosaria, rosalia; violatio; Plin. Nat.21.11, and frequently in inscriptions: Wilmanns, Index, p. 695; C. I. L. 2046, 2072, 2090, 2176, 2135, &c.; 6.9626, 10239, 10248, &c.).

(Kirchmann, De funeribus Romanorum, 1637; Becker, Gallus, 4th English edit., pp. 505-523 = Becker-Göll, 3.481-547; Raoul-Rochette, Troisième Mémoire sur les Antiquités chrétiennes des Catacombes, in Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, vol. xiii., 1838, pp. 529-788; and especially Marquardt, Privatl. pp. 340-385.) [SEPULCRUM]

[H.B.S]

Funus

A funeral, so termed because, in ancient times, the Romans were buried by torch light, twisted ropes (funalia) smeared with pitch being carried by the mourners for the purpose (Isidor. Orig. xi. 2, 34; Donat. ad Terent. Andr. i. 1, 81). Under this title, it is here intended to give an account of the burial rites of the Greeks and Romans. The tombs will be explained in the article sepulcrum.

(1) Greek. The Greeks attached great importance to the burial of the dead. They believed that souls could not enter the Elysian Fields till their bodies had been buried; and accordingly we find the shade of Elpenor in the Odyssey (xi. 66, etc.) earnestly imploring Odysseus to bury his body. So strong was this feeling among the Greeks that it was considered a religious duty to throw earth upon a dead body which a person might happen to find unburied (Hor. Carm. i. 28, 36); and among the Athenians, those children who were released from all other obligations to unworthy parents were nevertheless bound to bury them (Aeschin. c. Timarch. 14). The neglect of burying one's relatives is frequently mentioned by the orators as a grave charge against the moral character of a man, since the burial of the body by the relations of the dead was considered a religious duty by the universal law of the Greeks. The common expressions for the funeral rites, τὰ δίκαια, νόμιμα or νομιζόμενα, προσήκοντα, show that the dead had, as it were, a legal and moral claim to burial.

At the moment of death the eyes and mouth were closed by one of those present (Phaed. 118). According to Lucian, the obolus to serve as Charon 's fare was at once placed in the mouth of the corpse. This coin was also called δανάκη (Hesych. s. v.). The custom is first mentioned by Aristophanes (Frogs, 139), and does not appear to have been in use at a very early date. Confirmation of the practice is given by actual discoveries, for coins are frequently found in Greek tombs, and in some between the teeth of the skeleton. The body was then washed (Eurip. Phoen. 1319, 1667), anointed with perfumes, and clothed in rich garments, generally white in colour. These were buried or burned with the body, but the number of them was limited by a law of Solon (Plut. Sol. 21). A wreath of flowers was placed upon the head (Eurip. Phoen. 1632). Golden wreaths, in imitation of laurel or other foliage, were sometimes used, and have been found in graves.

The corpse, thus prepared, was laid out (πρόθεσις, προτίθεσθαι) on a bed (κλίνη), which appears to have been of the ordinary kind, with a pillow (προσκεφάλαιον) for supporting the head and back ( c. Eratosth. 18). By a law of Solon it was ordered that the πρόθεσις should take place inside the house (Lex ap. Demosth. c. Macart. p. 1071. 62). As among the Romans, the feet were turned towards the door (Hom. Il. xix. 212). Vases of a special kind (λήκυθοι), probably containing perfumes, were placed beside the body (Ar. Eccl. 1032, 538). These vases were also buried with the coffin, and a large number of them have been found in graves in Attica. A few of them are in the ordinary black and red figured styles, but the greater number are of a special ware of great beauty, manufactured for funeral purposes. In this ware the ground is white, and scenes are painted upon it in bright colours, in a freer and less rigid style than in the vases with red or black figures. See E. Pottier, Étude sur les Lécythes Blancs Attiques, à Représentations Funéraires (Paris, 1883); Benndorf, Griechische und sicilische Vasenbilder (Berlin, 1869); and the article Vas. A honey-cake (μελιτοῦττα), intended as a sop for Cerberus, was also placed by the side of the corpse (Aristoph. Lys. 601). Before the door, a vessel of water was placed (ἀρδάνιον), in order that persons who had been in the house might purify themselves from the pollution of death by sprinkling water on their persons (Eurip. Alc. 98).

The near relatives of the deceased assembled round the bed on which he was laid, and uttered loud lamentations. Although more violent signs of grief were forbidden by Solon (Plut. Sol. 21), we find that Lucian (De Luctu, 12) mentions as accompaniments of the πρόθεσις, not only groaning and wailing, but also beating of breasts, tearing of hair, laceration of cheeks, rending of garments, and sprinkling of ashes upon the head. It was perhaps with the object of limiting the time for these excesses of grief that Solon ordained that the burial should take place on the day after the πρόθεσις, before sunrise, and that Plato (Leges, xii. 959 A) declared that the πρόθεσις should not last longer than was necessary to show that death had really taken place. It appears that singers were hired to lead the mourning chant at the πρόθεσις (Lucian, De Luctu, 20).

The accompanying illustration, representing the πρόθεσις, is taken from Pottier. The corpse lies upon a couch, and is covered with a rich garment. The head alone is unveiled, and is surrounded with a fillet (ταινία). Two female figures stand beside the couch, with gestures of grief. One of them carries a tray or basket, across which two fillets are laid. Other fillets are placed across the couch. In the background is a mirror, or fan, perhaps intended for the keeping away of flies (cf. Dio Cass. lxxiv. 4, 2).

The funeral (ἐκφορά, ἐκφέρειν) took place legally, as has been already remarked, on the day following the πρόθεσις. It might, however, be put off several days to allow of the arrival of distant friends (Timol. 39). The early morning was the usual time ( Leges, xii. 960 A). The bier was borne either by hired bearers (νεκροφόροι, Poll.vii. 195), or, in cases where it was decided to honour the dead, by specially selected citizens (Timol. 39). The men walked before the corpse and the women behind, and it appears that musicians were hired to play mournful tunes on the flute and sing dirges (θρῆνοι) at the ἐκφορά as well as at the πρόθεσις. Those who accompanied the funeral wore mourning garments of a black or dark colour (Eurip. Alc. 427). The head was also shaved or the hair cut as a sign of grief (Homer Od. iv. 197; Il. xxiii. 46, 135, 141, 146; Bion. Idyll. i. 81).

Representations of the ἐκφορά are rare. The foregoing illustration represents a stamped terracotta plaque found at the Piraeus (in the collection of M. Rayet, Convoi Funèbre, No. 75). The corpse lies upon a couch. The head is bare; the rest of the body covered. The couch is placed upon a car drawn by two horses, though mules were oftener used. Mourners accompany it with gestures of grief. A female attendant carries upon her head a vessel, probably to serve for libations. Another attendant plays upon the double flute.

It was the custom, at Athens at any rate, to hold public funerals for those who had fallen in war. Thucydides (ii. 34) describes with some minuteness the proceedings usual on such occasions. The πρόθεσις of the bones took place on a platform (or perhaps in a booth or tent) erected for the purpose in some public place. On the day of the funerals, coffins of cypress wood, one for each tribe, were carried upon wagons. Each coffin contained the bones of the members of the tribe to which it was assigned. An empty couch, adorned as for a funeral, was borne in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. The procession was accompanied by any citizens and aliens who wished to attend, and by women who were related to those who had fallen. In Greece, funeral orations were pronounced only at public funerals of the kind described, not, as at Rome, over individuals, even though they were specially distinguished (Dion. Hal. v. 17). This custom seems to have arisen about the time of the Persian Wars. In other respects the procedure at a public funeral does not seem to have differed from that in use at private burials.

In spite of the statement of Lucian (De Luctu, 21) that the Greeks burned their dead and the Persians buried them, it is certain, both from literary evidence and also from the excavation of tombs, that burning and burying were both practised by the Greeks. The word θάπτειν is used of the burial of the ashes after cremation, but κατορύττειν refers only to the burial of an unburned body. We hear of burial also among the Spartans (Plut. Lyc. 27; Thuc.i. 134). In Homer there is no mention of any burial without burning; but in graves at Mycenae, skeletons have been found which showed no traces of fire. Evidence both of burning and burying has been found in graves of a later date in many parts of the Greek world. See Hermann-Blümner, Privatalterth. p. 375.

The pile of wood (πυρά) upon which the body was burned was sometimes erected over the grave in which the ashes were to be buried. There is a full description of cremation in the Homeric period in Iliad (xxiii. 161 foll.), where Achilles celebrates the funeral of Patroclus. The pyre was made a hundred feet in length and breadth, and the bodies of sheep, oxen, horses, dogs, and twelve Trojan captives were placed upon it. Honey and perfumes were also poured upon it before it was lighted. When the pyre had burned down, the remains of the fire were quenched with wine, and the relatives and friends collected the bones or ashes (Il. xxiv. 791). The remains thus collected were placed in a receptacle sometimes of gold, but generally of a less precious material, and buried. A description of these receptacles, of the other articles placed in the tomb, and of the tomb itself will be found in the article Sepulcrum.

When bodies were buried without previous cremation, they were generally placed in coffins, which were called by various names, as σοροί, πύελολτ;γτ;, ληνοί, λάρνακες, δροῖται, though some of these names were also applied to the urns in which the bones were collected. For further information upon this point, see the article Sepulcrum.

Immediately after the funeral was over, the relatives partook of a feast which was called περίδειπνον or νεκρόδειπνον (Lucian, De Luctu, 24). It was the custom that this feast should be given at the house of the nearest relative (Demosth. De Cor. p. 321. 355).

Other ceremonies were performed on the third, the ninth, and the thirtieth days after the funeral, and were called respectively τρίτα, ἔνατα, and τριακάς or τριακάδες (Poll.viii. 146). The rites on the thirtieth day (Poll.i. 66, iii. 102) included a repetition of the funeral feast.

It was also the custom to bring offerings to the tomb on certain days in each year (Plato, De Leg. iv. 717 E). Herodotus mentions that these annual sacrifices to the dead were called γενέσια (iv. 26), from which it is inferred that they were offered on the birthday of the deceased (cf. Diog. Laert.x. 18). The name νεκύσια was also used in the same sense. The ceremonies which were performed at these stated intervals might be used at any other time, if for some reason it was necessary to appease the departed spirit. The word ἐναγίζειν was used for the act of offering, ἐναγίσματα for the things offered on these occasions. These consisted of libations (χοαί) of wine, oil, milk, honey mixed with water or milk (Aesch. Pers. 609 foll.), which were poured upon the ground (γάποτοι, Aesch. Pers. 621). Elaborate banquets were sometimes prepared, burned in honour of the dead, and buried in a trench (Lucian, Char. 22). Wreaths were also placed upon the grave-stones, and they were anointed with perfumes.

The period of mourning varied in length at different places. At Athens the τριακάς seems to have ended it on the thirtieth day after the funeral (Lysias, De Caede Erat. 14). At Sparta it lasted only eleven days (Plut. Lyc. 27).

Certain special rites were used in particular cases. A spear was carried in front of the body of any person who had died a violent death, as a symbol of the revenge which was to follow the murderer (Eurip. Troad. 1148). In the case of those who had committed suicide, the hand which had done the deed was cut off and buried separately ( in Ctes. 244). Certain criminals, who were put to death by the State, were also deprived of burial, which was considered to be an additional punishment (Plut. Them. 22; Thuc.i. 134). The bodies of those persons who had been struck by lightning were regarded as sacred (ἱεροὶ νεκροί); they were not buried with others (Eurip. Suppl. 935), but usually on the spot where they had been struck ( Oneirocr. ii. 9, p. 146).

It has been already mentioned that in the public funerals of those killed in war, an empty couch was carried in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. In other cases, where a person was supposed to be dead, though his body was not found, funeral rites were performed for him (Eurip. Hel. 1241 foll.). If such a person was afterwards found to be alive, he was considered impure, and was not allowed to enter temples till certain rites had been performed. These rites consisted in a symbolism of birth and the ceremonies connected with it. The δευτερόποτμος or ὑστερόποτμος was washed, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and fed with milk. Having been thus born again into life, he was freed from his impurity ( Q. R. 5).

(2) Roman.—Among the Romans also the burial of the dead was a most solemn duty. It was incumbent upon any one who found an unburied body at least to cast earth upon it three times (Homer Od. i. 28). If no funeral rites had been performed, the soul of the dead man could not be received among the shades, but wandered homeless upon the earth (Tertull. De Anim. 56).

A near relative of the dying person caught the last breath in his mouth (Verg. Aen. iv. 684). As soon as he was dead his eyes were closed by one of those present (Lucan. Phars. iii. 740). Then followed the conclamatio, variously explained as (1) a cry in articulo mortis, which seems probable from Propertius (v. 7, 23; cf. Ovid, Trist. iii. 3, 43)

(2) the recall of the dead by uttering his or her name three times, in order to ascertain the fact of death if there was no answer—a custom still in use at the death-bed of a Pope;

(3) as commonly understood, the lamentation for the dead when there was no longer any possibility of doubt. The mourners called repeatedly the name of the deceased, with loud cries, and exclamations such as vale (Lucan, Phars. ii. 22; Catullus, ci.; Ovid, Met. x. 62, Fasti, iv, 852).

The body was then washed with warm water and anointed with perfumes and spices (Pers.iii. 103). That this took place after the conclamatio is learned from Ammianus Marcellinus (xxx. 10). The corpse was then clothed either in the toga (Juv.iii. 173 with Mayor's note), or in the state robes of any office which had been held by the deceased (Livy, xxxiv. 7; Polyb. vi. 53). The garments in which the corpse was clothed were sometimes splendid and costly (vestes purpureae, Verg. Aen. vi. 221; pretiosae, Val. Max. v. 5, 4). Precious ornaments were often added. Rings, for example, are often found in graves, and we learn from Propertius (iv. 7, 9) that they were sometimes burned with the body. Flowers were also used for the adornment of the couch on which the corpse was laid; and a censer (acerra) was placed beside it ( Epit.p. 18). The following illustration from a Roman relief in the Lateran Museum (Baumeister, p. 239) represents the lectus funebris, on which the corpse of a woman lies dressed. Two women mourners (praeficae) stand behind, and by their side a man in the act of putting a garland on the head of the corpse. On each side of the lectus funebris is a torch. On the left side is a woman blowing the flute, and above another with folded hands; on the right side sit three women, wearing the pilleus (probably manumitted slaves); below is the family of the deceased. Among the Romans, as among the Greeks, it was customary to place a small coin in the mouth of the deceased, for the purpose of paying Charon 's passage-money. This is alluded to by Juvenal (iii. 267) and Propertius (iv. 11, 7), but not by earlier writers. Coins, however, have been found in graves of an earlier date than the Second Punic War (C. I. L. i. p. 27); and in graves at Praenesté, dating from the third century B.C., coins were actually found in the mouths of the skeletons (C. I. L. i. 28). In imperial times the practice was common.

The preparations necessary for the due laying out of the body were performed by the pollinctores (Plaut. Asin. v. 2, 60), who probably took the cast of the dead man's face, from which the wax imago was made, to be kept in the atrium of the house by his descendants, and used in funeral processions in a way shortly to be described. The pollinctor was furnished by the libitinarius or undertaker, who entered into a contract for conducting the whole funeral. The latter got his name from the fact that he exercised his business at the temple or grove of Libitina, the goddess of corpses and funerals (Plut. Num. 12. 1; Quaest. Rom. 23). Deaths were also registered at this temple (Suet. Ner. 39), and the offering called lucar Libitinae was made. See Lucar.

When the body had been thus prepared and adorned, it was laid upon a couch of state, generally in the atrium of the house, with the feet towards the door (Pers.iii. 105). Outside the door of the house were placed branches of cypress or pine ( ad Aen. iii. 64), for the purpose of warning those who might be polluted by entering a house in which was a corpse. The cypress was apparently only used by those of good position. We are told by Servius (ad Aen. v. 64) that the corpse lay in state for seven days before burial. This can only have been the case in exceptional circumstances, when some form of embalming was used.

Funerals were conducted by the family of the deceased (funus privatum), except in cases where a public funeral (funus publicum) was voted, either by the Senate (Cic. Phil. ix. 7) or in provincial towns by the decuriones, as a mark of honour or respect to the deceased. This honour was paid in the case of foreign kings who died in Italy (Val. Max. v. 1, 1); and men who had fallen in the service of their country (Val. Max. v. 2, 10).

A public invitation was given to all important funerals by a herald (praeco). Hence the phrases funus indicere, funus indictivum ( Iul. 84; De Leg. ii. 24, 61). The formula of invitation has been preserved: “Ollus Quiris Leto Datus. Exsequias, Quibus est commodum, ire iam tempus est. Ollus ex aedibus effertur.” ( Fest. p. 254 dFest., 34.) Translaticium funus is used for an unceremonious burial (Suet. Ner. 33).

In ancient times all funerals took place by night ( ad Aen. xi. 143); in later times only those of children ( Serv. l. c.), and poor people whose means did not admit of sufficient display for the day-time (Mart.viii. 75). The torches with which funerals were always accompanied were probably a relic of burial by night, though no doubt they also served for lighting the pyre.

An opportunity for the display of splendour was given by the funeral procession, and was so largely used by families of wealth and position that sumptuary laws to regulate such expenses are found among the Tables of the Decemviri ( De Leg. ii. 23, 59) and the enactments of Sulla (Plut. Sull. 35). The order of the funeral procession was regulated by the designator or dissignator, whose attendants were dressed in black. The order in which the various parts of the procession came is uncertain, but it is generally supposed that at the head of it were the musicians (siticines), who made use of tubae, tibiae, and cornua. The number of tibicines was by the Twelve Tables limited to ten ( De Leg. ii. 23, 59). Then followed (at any rate in earlier times) the mourning women, called praeficae, who sang the nenia or lessus, a mournful song in praise of the dead man ( De Leg. ii. 24, 62). Then followed in some cases dancers and mimi ( Iul. 84), who were allowed, as at a triumph, free license of jesting. We learn from Suetonius ( Vesp. 19) that it was the custom for the archimimus to wear a mask in the likeness of the deceased, to imitate his speech and manners, and even to make jests at his expense.

The most striking part of the procession was probably formed by the imagines. It is said by Polybius (vi. 53) that the imagines, or wax masks representing distinguished ancestors of the deceased, were brought out from their resting-place in the atrium, and each was worn by a man chosen to resemble as nearly as possible the person whom he was supposed to represent and clothed in the dress of the office which the prototype of the mask had held. Each rode upon a chariot, and was accompanied with due pomp of lictors and other insignia of his office. Thus all the distinguished ancestors of the dead man were present in effigy at his funeral. If he was of good birth, many families to which he was related were represented by their imagines (Tac. Ann. iii. 76), and the actual number was sometimes very great. At the funeral of Marcellus there are said to have been 600 ( ad Aen. vi. 802). Sometimes, as a special honour, spoils, crowns, and other records of victories and triumphs were carried before the bier. The procession was also swelled by the slaves who were liberated by the will of the deceased, all with shorn heads, wearing the pilleus (Livy, xxxviii. 55). The bier itself was sometimes carried by these liberated slaves (Pers.iii. 106); or in the case of emperors, by magistrates and senators (Suet. Aug. 100). The body was placed uncovered on a bier or couch (feretrum, torus), which in great funerals was elaborately decorated ( Iul. 84). In some cases, probably when decay had begun to disfigure the features, the body was placed in a coffin (capulus), and a waxen representation (effigics) was exposed to view instead (Tac. Ann. iii. 5).

In the burial of the poor and of slaves of course this pomp was absent. Hired bearers (vespillones), six (Mart. vi. 77, 10) or four (id. viii. 75, 9) in number, carried the body in a simple wooden coffin or bier, which was not buried with the body (sandapila, Mart. ii. 81).

The relatives of the deceased followed behind the bier, dressed in mourning. The sons of the deceased had their heads veiled, while the daughters went uncovered and with dishevelled hair (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 11). Mourning was shown by very much the same signs as in modern times— viz., by the absence of adornment and the wearing of black garments (Juv. x. 245; Prop. v. 7, 28; Tac. Ann. iii. 2; pullus, Juv.iii. 213). Under the emperors white seems to have been substituted for black as the mourning colour for women (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 26; Stat. Silv. iii. 3, 3). The women were also in the habit of crying aloud, tearing their hair and lacerating their cheeks in the funeral procession itself (Prop. iii. 13, 27).

In this order the funeral train proceeded to the Forum. There it halted before the Rostra, the wearers of the imagines took their seats upon curule chairs, and the laudatio funebris was pronounced, generally by a near relative of the deceased (Polyb. vi. 53), though in the case of a funus publicum this function might be assigned by a senatusconsultum to one of the magistrates ( Instit. iii. 7, 2).

From the Forum the procession moved on to the place of burning or burial, which, according to a law of the Twelve Tables, was obliged to be outside the city, though special exceptions were sometimes made (Cic. De Leg. ii. 23, 58). Both burning and burial were in use among the Romans. Cicero (De Leg. ii. 22, 56) and Pliny (Pliny H. N. vii. 187) both hold the view that burial was the more ancient custom. Pliny further says that burning was introduced because it was found that the bodies of those killed in distant countries and buried there were dug up and scattered by the enemy. It is conjectured, however, that the change was partly brought about by motives of health and convenience. In certain families the practice of burial was kept up, after burning had become general. Sulla was the first of the Cornelii to be burned. The reason, according to Cicero and Pliny , of the departure from the custom of his family was, that he feared lest his own bones should receive the same treatment as he had given to those of Marius. In later times burning became far more common than burial, though the latter was always used in the case of children who died before they had cut their teeth (Plin. H. N. vii. 72; Juv. xv. 140), and in the case of those who had been struck by lightning. It seems also that persons of the poorest classes were always buried. After the introduction of Christianity burial again came into use instead of burning. The view that burial was older than cremation is confirmed by some Roman customs. According to pontifical law, the essential part of the funeral ceremony was the casting of earth upon the face of the corpse (Cic. De Leg. ii. 22, 57). Again, when a body was to be burned, it was the custom to cut off some portion of it, called os resectum, which was subsequently buried (Fest. Epit.p. 148). By this means the newer and more convenient method was adopted, while the ancient regulation which prescribed burial was still carried out.

The remaining rites varied, according as the body was to be buried or burned. In the case of burial the body was placed in the grave either on the bier on which it had been carried, or in a sarcophagus. Numerous objects were also placed in the grave. (See sepulcrum.) The ceremonies which followed had the double object of making the grave a locus religiosus, and of purifying the family and house which had been defiled by the presence of a corpse. Earth was thrown upon the face of the dead (Cic. De Leg. ii. 22, 57), a pig was sacrificed, and an offering was made to the Lares. The day on which these sacrifices took place was called feriae denicales (Fest. Epit.p. 70). A funeral feast called silicernium was also held, apparently on the day of the funeral, and by the grave (Varr. ap. Non. p. 48, 8). The period of mourning lasted nine days (novendiale), though it is uncertain whether this period was reckoned from the day of death or the day of burial (Serv. ad Aen. v. 64). At the end of this period a sacrificium novendiale was offered to the dead, and a cena novendialis was held (Tac. Ann. vi. 5).

The burning of a body sometimes took place at the spot where the ashes were to be interred. In this case the funeral pile (rogus, pyra) was erected over the trench which was subsequently to be the grave (bustum). The body, however, was often burned at a place near the monument, specially destined for this purpose, ustrinum, ustrina ( Epit.p. 32). The pyre was built of wood, in the form of an altar (Verg. Aen. vi. 177). A law of the Twelve Tables ordered that it should not be smoothed with an axe (Cic. De Leg. ii. 23, 59). Pyres were sometimes painted (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 49), and cypress-trees were placed in front (Ovid, Trist. iii. 13, 21). On the top of the pile the corpse was placed, with the couch on which it had been carried. Many things were placed on the pyre by the relations and mourners, such as clothes, arms, ornaments, hunting nets and apparatus, horses, dogs, birds (Plin. Epist. iv. 2). It was also sprinkled with perfumes, gums, and spices.

The pyre was lighted by one of the relatives, with face turned away (Verg. Aen. vi. 224). When it was burned down, the glowing ashes were extinguished with water or wine (Verg. Aen. vi. 226). Those who had taken part in the funeral uttered a last farewell (Verg. Aen. ii. 644) and departed, while the nearest relatives remained to collect the bones and ashes when they were dry. This was probably done as a rule on the day of the funeral. The bones were sprinkled with wine (though it is not certain that this sprinkling is to be separated from that mentioned above), dried with a linen cloth, and placed in an urn or box with perfumes and spices. The urn was then placed in the sepulchre.

It has already been mentioned that if the body was burned, the os resectum was buried separately. The ceremonies of the feriae denicales were used, as in the case of the burial, including the throwing of earth upon the remains of the dead ( De Leg. ii. 22, 57). It does not appear at what moment this was done; but the object of it was to consecrate the place of burial, to make it a locus religiosus. After the bones and ashes of the deceased had been placed in the urn, the persons present were thrice sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of olive or laurel, for the purpose of purification (Verg. Aen. vi. 229); after which they were dismissed by the praefica or some other person, by the solemn word Ilicet, that is, ire licet. In the case of burning, the practices connected with the silicernium and the novendiale seem to have been the same as in the case of burial (see above). When those who had accompanied the funeral returned home, they underwent a purification called suffitio, which consisted in being sprinkled with water and stepping over a fire ( Fest. p. 3). It was then also, perhaps, that the house was swept with a special kind of broom ( Fest. p. 58, s. v. Everriator).

In the case of important funerals, scenic or gladiatorial exhibitions were often given. (See Gladiatores.) Scenic exhibitions were less common; but the Didascalia to the Adelphoe of Terence states that that play was performed at the ludi funebres of Aemilius Paullus (B.C. 160), and we are informed by Livy that ludi scenici as well as gladiatorial combats were exhibited at the death of T. Flamininus (B.C. 174). There were also distributions of food (viscerationes) and public banquets ( Iul. 26).

It remains to give some account of the annual rites performed at the tombs in honour of the Manes. Certain days in February (13th-21st) were set apart as dies parentales, or parentalia. The last of these days was specially known as feralia (Ovid, Fasti, ii. 569). The ceremonies performed at this time are described by Ovid (Fasti, ii. 533 foll.). Offerings to the Manes (inferiae) were brought to the tomb. These consisted of wine and milk, honey and oil, the blood of victims, especially of black sheep, pigs, and cattle (Arnob. vii. 20), various fruits, bread, salt, and eggs (Juv.v. 84). The tomb was adorned with wreaths and flowers, especially roses and violets (Ovid, l. c.). A meal was also eaten at the grave. A triclinium funebre, intended apparently for this purpose, was found at Pompeii and is represented in the accompanying illustration. During the dies parentales temples were shut and marriages forbidden (Ovid, Fasti, ii. 557 foll.), and the magistrates laid aside the insignia of their office (Lydus, De Mens. iv. 24). The terms parentare, parentatio, were also applied to similar rites performed on other days of the year, such as the day of birth, death, or burial of the person to be honoured. Special days were also appropriated to roses and violets (rosatio, rosaria, rosalia, violatio; Plin. H. N. xxi. 11).

Bibliography. — References may be made to Feydeau, Histoire des Usages Funèbres, etc. (Paris, 1856). For the Greek usages, see Becker-Göll, Charikles, iii. 114-167; Hermann-Blümner, Privatalterth. pp. 361 foll.; and Graves, Burial Customs of the Ancient Greeks (Brooklyn, 1891). For the Roman usages, see Becker-Göll, Gallus, iii. 481- 547; and Marquardt, Privatleben, pp. 340-385.