Virgils Aeneid's Funeral

As for those in the modern world, a funeral is seen as something everyone deserves, and a transition from the different states of living and death. It was overtly important to conduct the right ceremonies, practices, and burials, for the people of Rome so they would avoid anything malicious in the afterlife. Ancient sources provide ideas and accounts of funerals that took place, which vary from rich to poor. Funerals could be very expensive, much like today, so in the event of the death of the poor, they contributed to a ‘burial’ society with which they would be guaranteed proper burial in Columbaria (A place for storage of cinerary urns)-This allowed for lots of people to be buried together in a small space, rather than being dumped into
Rites in the Home showed the performance of “Conclamatio”, whereby the oldest son bent over the dead body and called the name of the deceased, as if to wake them up and bring them back to life. The eyes of the deceased were then closed, and the body was washed, such is shown in Virgils Aeneid with Misenus’ funeral where they “prepared hot water… then they washed the cold corpse and anointed it”. A coin, known as Charon’s Obol, was placed in the mouth of the deceased, which let the family member to pay to cross the river Styx into the underworld. The deceased was then laid out in the atrium of the familia; this was to give friends and distant relatives the opportunity to satiate the spirit, and pay their
The wealthier a person was, the more extravagant the procession would be. In an expensive procession the Dominus Funeri would lead the procession, with important family members and other significant people such as musicians, mimes, and professional mourners. The more important or rich a person was, the more people the family of the deceased could afford to pay for professional mourners to raise tumultuous lamentation by crying out, beating their chests, tearing their hair, and scratching their cheeks. Wax masks (imagines maiorum), worn by actors to represent ancestors of the deceased, were worn when “any illustrious member of the family dies, they carry these masks to the funeral, putting them on men whom they thought as like the originals,” These imagines were used for funerary ceremonies, but could also be found in the atrium of the roman person’s atrium. Ancestor worship, such as illustrated by the imagines, was a central and salient part of romans beliefs regarding death and the after life.

Amiternum, is the first example of late first century BCE funerary relief, depicts one of the only existing scenes of the funerary procession, which: was described by
Polybus . The deceased can be seen being lifted by 8 pallbearers, however in contrast to this relief depicting death, the figure seen being