Funeral lights in Roman sepulchral monuments

Among the fragments of the tomb of the Haterii, discovered in 1848 on the Via Labicana, some three miles from Rome, and now in the Lateran Museum, are two scenes in low relief illustrating the burial. The first of these (plate IX) represents a very rare, if not unique, subject—the lying-in-state, as we should call it, in the atrium of the house. Confining our attention to the details which concern our immediate purpose, we see that the central object is the corpse of a lady extended on a high bed or bier, at the corners of which burn four tall torches standing on the ground, while at the head and foot is a lighted oil lamp on a candelabrum of rather smaller dimensions. Below, at either of the two front corners of the bier, is a small flaming vessel, probably the ‘acerra’ which Festus says was used for burning incense before the dead. In the personages who assist at the scene we may recognise the relations, the ‘praeficae’ or hired mourners, and various attendants, one of whom is apparently laying a wreath on the corpse, which is already crowned, while another on the right is about to throw more incense on to the ‘acerra.’

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Head (geology · Incense · Visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Geology · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History

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