Classical Latin history: burial practices - Searching our roots.
Words in Latin for Death and Dying
I've a lot of problems to conjugate the English verb "to die", the present is clear for me, I've troubles with the simple past, the participle etc. My dictionary doesn't help me, could anyone help me about? Meanwhile a Latin meditation and some information about the Roman burial practices I know better.
Here are some expressions from Classical Latin dealing with death. In general, the infinitives need to be conjugated.
Romans could bury or burn their dead, practices known as inhumation and cremation, but at certain times one practice was preferred over another, and family traditions might resist current fashions. The Roman dictator Sulla was from the Cornelian gens, which had practiced inhumation until Sulla ordered that his own body be cremated lest it be desecrated in the way he had desecrated the body of his rival, Marius.
When a person died, he would be washed and laid out on a couch, dressed in his finest clothes and crowned, if he had earned one in life. A coin would be placed on his mouth so he could pay the ferryman Charon to row him to the land of the dead.
After being laid out for 8 days, he would be taken out for burial.
Funerals could be expensive, so poor but not indigent Romans, including slaves, contributed to a burial society which guaranteed proper burial in columbaria, rather than dumping in a pit.
In early years, the procession to the place of burial took place at night, although in later periods, only the poor were buried then. In an expensive procession there was a head of the procession called designator or dominus funeri with lictors, followed by musicians and mourning women. Other performers might follow and then came newly freed slaves (liberti). In front of the corpse, representatives of the ancestors of the deceased walked wearing wax masks (imago pl. imagines) in the likenesses of the ancestors. If the deceased had been particularly illustrious a funeral oration would be made during the procession in the forum in front of the rostra. This funeral oration or laudatio could be made for a man or woman.
If the body was to be burned it was put upon a funeral pyre and then when the flames rose, perfumes were thrown at the fire. Other objects that might be of use to the dead in the afterlife were also thrown in. When the pile burned down, wine was used to douse the embers, so that the ashes could be gathered and placed in funerary urns.
Almost everyone was buried beyond the limits of the city or pomoerium, which is thought to have been a disease-reducing practice from the early days when burial was more common that cremation. The Campus Martius, although an important part of Rome, was beyond the pomoerium during the Republic and for part of the Empire. It was, among other things, a place for burial of the illustrious at public expense. Private burial spots were along the roads leading into Rome, especially the Appian Way (Via Appia). Sepulchres might contain bones and ashes, and were monuments to the dead, often with formulaic inscriptions beginning with initials D.M. 'to the shades of the dead'. They could be for individuals or families. There were also columbaria, which were tombs with niches for the urns of ashes. During the Republic, mourners would wear dark colors, no ornaments, and would not cut their hair or beards. The period of mourning for men was a few days, but for women was a year for a husband or parent. The deceased's relatives made periodic visits to the tombs after the burial to offer gifts. The dead came to be worshiped as gods and were offered oblations.
Because these were considered sacred places, violation of a sepulcher was punishable by death, exile, or deportation to the mines.
Whether or not it was in connection with Christianity, cremation gave way to burial during the reign of Hadrian in the Imperial period.
I've a lot of problems to conjugate the English verb "to die", the present is clear for me, I've troubles with the simple past, the participle etc. My dictionary doesn't help me, could anyone help me about? Meanwhile a Latin meditation and some information about the Roman burial practices I know better.
Here are some expressions from Classical Latin dealing with death. In general, the infinitives need to be conjugated.
- If you want to refer to someone's departure from life, you could use a conjugated version of one of the following phrases:
- [(de) vita] decedere
- (ex) vita excedere
- ex vita abire
- mortem obire
- de vita exire
- de (ex) vita migrare
- In Latin you can "give up the ghost" by saying:
- animam edere or efflare
- extremum vitae spiritum edere
- Someone who dies before his time dies in these ways:
- mature decdere
- subita morte exstingui
- mors immatura or praematura
- Committing suicide can be done in a variety of ways. Here are Latin expressions connoting self-inflicted death.
- mortem sibi consciscere
- se vita privare
- vitae finem facere
- Taking poison for suicide:
- veneno sibi mortem consciscere
- poculum mortis exhaurire
- poculum mortiferem exhaurire
- Killing someone violently:
- plagam extremam infligere
- plagam mortiferam infligere
- A patriotic Roman death might be described using the following:
- mortem occumbere pro patria
- sanguinem suum pro patria effundere
- vitam profundere pro patria
- se morti offerre pro salute patriae
Romans could bury or burn their dead, practices known as inhumation and cremation, but at certain times one practice was preferred over another, and family traditions might resist current fashions. The Roman dictator Sulla was from the Cornelian gens, which had practiced inhumation until Sulla ordered that his own body be cremated lest it be desecrated in the way he had desecrated the body of his rival, Marius.
When a person died, he would be washed and laid out on a couch, dressed in his finest clothes and crowned, if he had earned one in life. A coin would be placed on his mouth so he could pay the ferryman Charon to row him to the land of the dead.
After being laid out for 8 days, he would be taken out for burial.
Funerals could be expensive, so poor but not indigent Romans, including slaves, contributed to a burial society which guaranteed proper burial in columbaria, rather than dumping in a pit.
In early years, the procession to the place of burial took place at night, although in later periods, only the poor were buried then. In an expensive procession there was a head of the procession called designator or dominus funeri with lictors, followed by musicians and mourning women. Other performers might follow and then came newly freed slaves (liberti). In front of the corpse, representatives of the ancestors of the deceased walked wearing wax masks (imago pl. imagines) in the likenesses of the ancestors. If the deceased had been particularly illustrious a funeral oration would be made during the procession in the forum in front of the rostra. This funeral oration or laudatio could be made for a man or woman.
If the body was to be burned it was put upon a funeral pyre and then when the flames rose, perfumes were thrown at the fire. Other objects that might be of use to the dead in the afterlife were also thrown in. When the pile burned down, wine was used to douse the embers, so that the ashes could be gathered and placed in funerary urns.
Almost everyone was buried beyond the limits of the city or pomoerium, which is thought to have been a disease-reducing practice from the early days when burial was more common that cremation. The Campus Martius, although an important part of Rome, was beyond the pomoerium during the Republic and for part of the Empire. It was, among other things, a place for burial of the illustrious at public expense. Private burial spots were along the roads leading into Rome, especially the Appian Way (Via Appia). Sepulchres might contain bones and ashes, and were monuments to the dead, often with formulaic inscriptions beginning with initials D.M. 'to the shades of the dead'. They could be for individuals or families. There were also columbaria, which were tombs with niches for the urns of ashes. During the Republic, mourners would wear dark colors, no ornaments, and would not cut their hair or beards. The period of mourning for men was a few days, but for women was a year for a husband or parent. The deceased's relatives made periodic visits to the tombs after the burial to offer gifts. The dead came to be worshiped as gods and were offered oblations.
Because these were considered sacred places, violation of a sepulcher was punishable by death, exile, or deportation to the mines.
Whether or not it was in connection with Christianity, cremation gave way to burial during the reign of Hadrian in the Imperial period.