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

FUNUS.

190

FUNUS.

but as this place rendered the neighbourhood the freedmen and slaves of great families
unhealthy, it was given to Maecenas, who were frequently placed in vessels made of
converted it into gardens, and built a magni- baked clay, called ollae, which were let into
ficent house upon it. Private places for ! the thickness of the wall within these niches,
burial were usually by the sides of the roads , the lids only being seen, and the inscriptions

leading to Rome ; and on some of these
roads, such as the Via Appia, the tombs
formed an almost uninterrupted street for
many miles from the gates of the city. They
were frequently built by individuals during
their lifetime ; thus Augustus, in his sixth
consulship, built the Mausoleum for his se-
pulchre between the Via Flaminia and the
Tiber, and planted round it woods and walks
for public use. The heirs were often ordered
by the will of the deceased to build a tomb
for him ; and they sometimes did it at their
own expense.— Sepulchres were originally
called busta, but this word was afterwards
employed in the manner mentioned under
BuSTUX. Sepulchres were also frequently
called monumenta, but this term was also
applied to a monument erected to the memory
of a person in a different place from that where
he was buried. Conditoria or conditica were
sepulchres under ground, in which dead

placed in front. Tombs were of various sizes
and forms, according to the wealth and taste
of the owner. A sepulchre, or an}' place in
which a person was buried, was religionist
all things which were left or belonged to the
Dii Manes were religiosae ; those consecrated
to the Dii Superi were called sacrae. Even
the place in which a slave was buried was
considered religiosus. Whoever violated a
sepulchre was subject to an action termed
sepulcri violati actio. After the bones had
been placed in the urn at the funeral, the
friends returned home. They then underwent
a further purification, called suffitio, which
consisted in being sprinkled with water and
stepping over a fire. The house itself was
also swept with a certain kind of broom ;
which sweeping or purification was called
excerrae, and the person who did it cverriator.
The Denicales Feriae were also days set apart
for the purification of the family. The mourn-

bodics were placed entire, in contradistinc- i ing and solemnities connected with the dead

tion to those sepulchres which contained the
bones and ashes only.—The tombs of the rich
were commonly built of • marble, and the
ground enclosed with an iron railing or wall,
and planted round with trees. The extent
of the burying ground was marked by cippi

lasted for nine days after the funeral, at the
end of which time a sacrifice was performed,
called novendialc. — A feast was given in
honour of the dead, but it is uncertain on
what day ; it sometimes appears to have been
given at the time of the funeral, sometimes

[Cippub]. The name of mausoleum, which ; on the novendiale, and sometimes later. The

was originally the name of the magnificent
sepulchre erected by Artemisia to the me-
mory of Malleolus, king of Caria, was some-
times given to any splendid tomb. The open
space before a sepulchre was called forum,

name of silicernium was given to this feast.
Among the tombs at Pompeii there is a fu-
neral triclinium for the celebration of these
feasts, which is represented in the annexed
woodcut. It is open to the sky, and the walls

and neither this space nor the sepul- : are ornamented by paintings of animals in the
chre itself could become the property of a centre of compartments, which have borders of
person by usucapion. Private tombs were i flowers. The triclinium is made of stone, with
either built by an individual for himself and i a pedestal in the centre to receive the table,
the members of his family {sepulcra fami- i After the funeral of great men, there was, in
liaria), or for himself and his heirs [sepulcra addition to the feast for the friends of the
hereditaria). A tomb, which was fitted up . deceased, a distribution of raw meat to the
with niches to receive the funeral urns, was ! people, called visceratio, and sometimes a
called columbarium, on account of the resem- public banquet. Combats of gladiators and
blance of these niches to the holes of a other games were also frequently exhibited
pigeon-house. In these tombs the ashes of in honour of the deceased. Thus at

Funeral Triclinium at Pompeii. (Mazois, Pomp., I, pi. xx.1