Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

FUNU8.

186

FUNUS.

of one. The dead were usually buried out-
side the town, as it was thought that their
presence in the city brought pollution to the
living. At Athens none were allowed to be
buried within the city ; but Lyeurgus, in
order to remove all superstition respecting
the presence of the dead, allowed of burial in
Sparta. Persons who possessed lands in At-
tica were frequently buried in them, and we
therefore read of tombs in the fields. Tombs,
however, were most frequently built by the
side of roads, and near the gates of the city.

Tomb in Lyda.

At Athens, the most common place of burial
was outside of the Itonian gate, near the
road leading to the Peiraeeus, which gate
■was for that reason called the burial gate.
Those who had fallen in battle were buried
at the public expense in the outer Ceramei-
cus, on the road leading to the Academia.
Tombs were called flJjutu, t<x<]>oi, ^vrnj-ara,
^vrifneia, a-q^artx. Many of these were only
mounds of earth or stones (x^fiara, koAuWi^
rvfj-fioi.). Others were built of stone, and
frequently ornamented with great taste.
Some Greek tombs were built under ground,
and called hypogca (yiroyaia or viroyeia).
They correspond to the Roman conditoria.
The monuments erected over the graves of
persons were usually of four kinds : 1.
o-Tr)Aai, pillars or upright stone tablets; 2.
Ki'ove?, columns ; 3. catSia or ^pwa, small
buildings in the form of temples ; and 4. rpd-

7rec/u, flat square stones, called by Cicero
meniae. The term o-njAai is sometimes ap-
plied to all kinds of funeral monuments, but
properly designates upright stone tablets, which
were usually terminated with an oval head-
ing, called en-i(9r)fia. The epithema was fre-

Epithema or Heading of' Tombstone. (St-ickelberg, pi. 3

quently ornamented with a kind of arabesque
work, as in the preceding specimen. The
KiWes, or columns, were of various forms, as is
shown by the two specimens in the annexed cut.

Sepulchral Columns. (Paintings on Vases.)

The inscriptions upon these funeral monu-
ments usually contain the name of the deceased
person, and that of the demus to which he
belonged, as well as frequently some account
of his life. The following example of an
ypuiov will give a general idea of monuments
of this kind.—Orations in praise of the dead
were sometimes pronounced; but Solon or-
dained that such orations should be confined
to persons who were honoured with a public
funeral. In the heroic ages games were