Author Description

Death in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook is a selected compilation of ancient texts in translation on the subject of death in ancient Rome. Mortality rates were high in ancient Rome and how a person died was no less important than how they lived. Despite the brutality of the assassinations that feature in accounts of Roman political life, laudable figures faced their deaths with dignity and stoicism, their last words set down for posterity. Whether a Roman's end was met in war, gladiatorial combat, execution, murder, suicide, or simply ill health, it was almost certain to have been a visible part of Roman life; even a spectacle. To understand life in Rome, we need to understand death in Rome. This book will enable you to do just that by providing the essential primary sources on death, dying and the dead in Roman society and investigating their value and significance. The sources include literary evidence such as poetry, letters and philosophy, as well as epitaphs and other inscriptions, along with visual material of, in particular, funerary monuments and cemeteries. This varied evidence collectively builds a vivid picture of how people died, were buried, commemorated and remembered, and what the living believed happened to the dead after they were gone. Topics covered include the deathbed, making a will, memory promotion, the funeral, the cemetery, funerary monuments, mourning rituals, expressions of grief and afterlife beliefs.