Romans had various gods and traditions that they followed closely. From our modern point of view we might perceive many of their beliefs as superstitious or irrational, but we must keep in mind that they lived in another time and era and tried to make sense of life using omens as their guide.
When it comes to funerals they had specific procedures that they followed closely. For example, when someone was on the verge of death, the closest relative would watch over the dying person. When the final hour struck, the relative would try to catch the last breath with a kiss and close the dead person’s eyes.
A small silver coin, obolus, was placed under the tongue of the deceased, which was intended as payment for the cranky ferryman Charon in Hades. Charon was responsible to take the soul of the dead person across one of the five rivers, the Styx being the most famous one, into the underworld and the coin, along with proper burial or cremation, was to ensure he could pay his fare down that dark river.
After death, the corpse would be washed and anointed with oil and perfumes, which was usually done either by their slaves or by undertakers. Then the body would be dressed in the person’s best clothes and displayed in the atrium of the house for all to come and mourn.
Funerals had started as a nocturnal tradition, but later richer Romans preferred the day so that they could give sumptuous funerals to impress others and display both the riches and the popularity of the person in question. Nonetheless, the poorer people who could not afford elaborate and costly rites usually held their funerals at night, in secret, where nobody could see them and as such their lack of display went by unnoted.
The funeral was usually held on the ninth day after death and was headed by musicians. In memory of the deceased theatre actors and buffoons were hired to represent the character and personality of the deceased by imitating his words and actions in memory. Sometimes women were hired to wail and cry in grief; they were called praeficae and were considered “professional wailers”.
Female relatives and friends would usually mourn and lament in loud wailing voices, beat their breast and tear their hair. Men were mourning too but were careful not to show their feelings and control emotional outbursts, since a public display of emotion was considered effeminate.
The deceased would be carried along in a coffin or a stretcher and the last rites would be performed outside of the city, where the body would be either buried or cremated along with objects that belonged to him and that he held dear. While cremations became more common in later times, the poor continued with burials. It was a more common practice with them especially after the growing and spreading influence of Christianity.
Arash Farzaneh is a language teacher as well as a writer. He has published various short stories and he is passionate about cinema, psychology, philosophy and religion. He is a Contributing Writer of Suite 101 and manages his own blog "Arash's World" at arashworld.blogspot.com.
