Both inhumation and cremation were practiced in the Roman empire. Tombstones and other memorials constitute the majority of extant inscriptions that, for once, can tell us something about the lower and middle classes of Roman society. It is often said that history is written by the victors. Rather, it is recorded by the rich, and funerary monuments allow us a glimpse into the world of the classes below them.
Some are simple
“Laturnia Janurania, lime burner, lived 45 years”
Some point out the Roman laws of grave desecration and bring down curses upon anyone who would defile the tomb:
“To the spirits of the departed. Gaius Tullius Hesper built [this] for himself, where his bones are to be placed. If anyone does violence to them or removes them thence, I wish for him that he may live a very long time in bodily pain and that when he dies the gods below may not receive him”
Some record the lives of famous athletes:
“You see me a corpse, passers-by. My civilian name [so not his athlete name] was Apollonius...but now the soil of Nicomedia the thread of destiny spun by the Fates holds me fast to this ground. Eight times he won in games, but in the ninth boxing match he met his fated end. Play. Laugh, passer-by, knowing that you too must die. Alexandria, his wife, erected this”
It’s remarkable how Roman funerary inscriptions attempt to speak to the living.
“To the spirits of the departed. To the memory of Blandinia Martiola, blameless girl, who lived 18 years, 9 months. 5 days. Sequanian, plasterer, to his wife incomparable and most kind to him, who lived with me 5 years and 6 months, 18 days, without any kind of fault, erected this tomb in his lifetime.”
A later addition adds “You who read this, go bathe in the baths of Apollo, as I used to do with my wife. I wish I still could”
And then there are some that make us realize that these ancient people were people like us, who loved and cried and cheered and had their lives destroyed by sadness and tragedy. Paprius Vitalis, a humble painter, has one of the most emotionally strong voices in ancient history. His ode to his wife is heartbreaking.
“To the spirits of the departed. You wanted to precede me, most sainted wife, and you have left me behind in tears. If there is anything good in the regions below [the afterlife] – as for me, I lead a worthless life without you – be happy there too, sweetest Thalassia, nurse of a vir clarissimus [probably a senator] and married to me for forty years. Paprius Vitalis, of the painter’s craft, her husband, built this for his incomparable wife, himself, and our family.”
One can also see the often underestimated view of Roman ‘atheism’ in the denial of the afterlife.
“Do not pass by this epitaph, wayfarer,
But stop, listen and learn, then go.
There is no boat in Hades, no ferrymen Charon,
No caretaker Aeacus, no Cerberus dog.
All we dead below
Have become bones and ashes, nothing more.
I have spoken you true; go now, wayfarer,
lest even though dead I seem to you garrulous….”
And, naturally, the opposite view.
“Furia Spes, a freedwoman, to Sempromius Firmus, husband most dear to me. As a boy and girl we were bound by mutual love at first sight. I lived with him a very short time. During that time we should have lived together, we were seperated by an evil hand [probably they were both salves]. I beg of you, most holy spirit, take good care of my dear one, and please be kind to him in the hours of the night, so that I may see him and he may wish me too to persuade fate to let me come and be with him tenderly and speedily”
And if that doesn’t break your heart ….