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The funerary art of ancient Rome changed throughout the course of the Roman Republic and the Empire and took many different forms. There were two main burial practices used by the Romans throughout history, one being cremation, another inhumation. The vessels used for these practices include sarcophagi, ash chests, urns, and altars.
John Bodel calculates an annual death rate of 30,000 among a population of about 750,000 in the city of Rome, not counting victims of plague and pandemic. [10] At birth, Romans of all classes had an approximate life expectancy of 20–30 years: men and women of citizen class who reached maturity could expect to live until their late 50's or much longer, barring illness, disease and accident. [11]
Post-mortem photography is the practice of photographing the recently deceased. Various cultures use and have used this practice, though the best-studied area of post-mortem photography is that of Europe and America. [1] There can be considerable dispute as to whether individual early photographs actually show a dead person or not, often ...
A sarcophagus, which means "flesh-eater" in Greek, is a stone coffin used for inhumation burials. [9] Sarcophagi were commissioned not only for the elite of Roman society (mature male citizens), [10] but also for children, entire families, and beloved wives and mothers.
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their direct, familial ancestors.
A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation because it interfered with the concept of the resurrection of a corpse, and practiced inhumation almost exclusively.
Coffin. A shop window display of coffins at a Polish funeral director's office. A casket showroom in Billings, Montana, depicting split lid coffins. A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for either burial or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as a casket, particularly in American English.
Funerary art may serve many cultural functions. It can play a role in burial rites, serve as an article for use by the dead in the afterlife, and celebrate the life and accomplishments of the dead, whether as part of kinship-centred practices of ancestor veneration or as a publicly directed dynastic display.