death and the afterlife in the ancient world cremation and burial

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death and the afterlife in the ancient
worldcremation and burial
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Childs sarcophagus 170-180 CE

• A classicists mystery why was there a shift,
  Empire-wide, from cremation to inhumation?

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Etruscan, from Chiusi, first half of the second
century BCE.
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Alabaster childs sarcophagus. Etruscan, 2nd cen
BCE. Paris on ship and Helen being led aboard.
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Roman sarcophagus lid, 120-140 CE.?The sculpting
technique and the girls hairstyle suggests a
late Hadrianic date. With her right hand, she
pets a small dog at the foot of the couch are
propped two small dolls (partly broken off). On
the back of the couch, over her right shoulder,
sprawls a small sleeping Cupid, whose left leg is
crossed under his right in imitation of the pose
of the girl. The fragmentary inscription
emphasizes her beauty and short life.
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A commemorated grandmother holds a patera in one
hand, crown in other, a symbol of victory and
immortality. Inscription D AVRELIA VITALIS / M
CVPIDINI ABIAE SUAE BENE MERENTI FECIT. Found
on Via Appia, Antonine period.?Baths of
Diocletian, Rome.
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Greeks battling Amazons. Greek, 230 BCE

• Export trade dominated by
• Mt. Pentelicus, Attica
• Proconnesus (island of Marmara)
• Docimaeum, W. Asia Minor

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A. D. Nocks theories on shift to sarcophagi

• change in afterlife belief?
• Influence of mystery cults?
• Increasing cost of fuel?
• Vogue in Greek culture?
• Greater accessibility of marble?

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Advantages to sarcophagi

• Portability
• sarc can be viewed at funeral
• flexible in placement
• gives a large field for decoration

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Sarcophagus relief ?of pitched battle, with
Achilles in the center holding the slain
Penthesileia. 3rd century CE.?Vatican Museum,
Rome.
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Death of Hector. Pianabella sarcophagus (?), 160
CE.
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Sarcophagus showing domestic scenes (or Birth of
Dionysus?) 2nd cen. C.E.
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Dionysiac scene on lenos sarcophagus, 3rd cen.
C.E.
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Sarcophagus of Maconiana Severiana Roman, 210-20
CE ??Maconiana died as a child, the daughter of
parents of the senatorial class. Her sarcophagus
is decorated with scenes relating to Bacchus
(Dionysus), including small tiles on the lid. The
inscription reads Dis Manibus MACONIANAE
SEVERIANAE FILIAE DVLCISSIMAE Marcus SEMPRONIVS
PROCVLVS FAVSTINIANVS Vir Clarissimus ET
PRAECILIA SEVERINA Clarissima Femina PARENTES
hoc monumentum fecerunt.?Santa Monica, Getty
Villa.
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The Rape of Persephone. Sarcophagus, 2nd cen. C.E.
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Hercules dragging Cerberus through the Gates of
Hades?Rome Museo Montemartini (found in Piazzale
del Verano).
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Marble sarcophagus with a scene in relief from
the Medea myth?gifts are given to the children
by a seated Medea as Jason, the Nurse, the
Paidagogos look on. Rome, 180 CE.
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Rome Museo Massimo relief on the side of a
sarcophagus from St. Paul Outside the Walls.
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Sarcophagus lid, Capitoline Museums, Rome.
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tombstone in the shape of an arched niche
containing a couple in the marriage pose (clasped
right hands), in relief between two putti holding
garlands the bearded husband holds a scroll, his
wife holds a pomegranate(?) their boy child
clings to his mother's leg. 2nd-3rd century CE.
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Portrait sarcophagus. Roman, 2nd cen.
C.E.?Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.
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Family sarcophagus. 2nd cen. C.E. Baths of
Diocletian, Rome.
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Young childs sarcophagus, Roman, c. 275-300
CE.?Made of Proconnesian marble found in Ostia.
Boys are shown playing with nuts.?Translation of
inscription "To the spirits of the departed and
to Lucius Aemilius Daphnus of the Pomptine
voting tribe. He lived 4 years and 6 days.
Julia Daphne had this made for her dearest
son."?London, British Museum.
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Sarcophagus relief of an elite Roman woman. She
appears in each of three panels in the center,
in a kind of aedicula, she stands veiled,with a
child at her feet holding her cloak on either
side she is grouped in conversation with the same
seated male and standing woman, all holding
texts.?Vatican Museum, Rome.
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Basin sarcophagus. The high relief depicts
children holding masks, musical instruments and
scrolls, perhaps symbolizing Muses, but certainly
emphasizing the learning of the dead youth.?On
the left, one boy holds a mask and another holds
a cithara and plectrum (pick) in the center
scene, the dead youth sits on stool holding an
open scroll, while a boy on his left writes on a
wax tablet with a stylus, and a figure on his
right (whose clothing suggests that she may be a
girl) holds a closed scroll with a bundle of
scrolls at her feet on the right, a boy holds a
mask while another holds a double flute. ?Rome,
Vatican Museum, Gallery of the Candelabrum.
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Ossuary made by C. Iulius Andronicus (a freedman
with the same patron) in the shape of a house
with Ionic columns and a garland a couple is
posed iunctio dextrarum in an aedicula below the
inscription DIS MANIBVS C IVLIVS HERMES VIXIT
ANNIS XXXIIII MENSIBUSV DIEBUS XIIII C
IVLIVS ANDRONICVS CONLIBERTVS FECIT BENE
MERENTI DE SE. Found on Via Appia, end of 1st
century CE.
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sarcophagus depicting a married couple c. 240
CE?Munich, Glyptothek.
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Sarcophagus high relief depicting Roman marriage
ceremony, 160-80 CE. Detail of couple clasping
right hands (dextrarum iunctio) with Juno Pronuba
between groom holds scroll probably symbolizing
betrothal contract.? Made of Proconnesian marble
partly restored in the 18th century.?London,
British Museum.
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