Roman afterlife

[Tiberius Dionysius Draco]

Avete Romani,

I was first going to post this topic at the Collegium Vitae Quotidianae, but my brother convinced me that it belonges here more than at Col VQ.

My question is: Did the Romans (or Greek) have any kind of Heaven or Hell? I know that they had an afterlife in the Underworld, but was it believed that some people went to a better place in the afterlife than others? And if so, according to what was somebody allowed to live on in this better/worse place than others?

Valete bene,

Tiberius Dionysius Draco

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salve Tiberii
The Greeks as the Romans had a pretty good idea on what was good and what wasn't good: evil, but these were just ideas invented by men so heaven and hell doesn't have the same meaning here as it did with the Judao- Christian religions. The Three Judges put people in the place they belong. If it were the Elysian Fields or Tartarus, it didn't matter because it is said not be for an eternity except for those who commited crimes against the Gods (Tanatalos, Sisyfos, Tityos, etc...) These people along with the Titans are to be there forever. Criminals who killed, etc.. have to do their time like they were sent to jail. They were to stay there until their debt to society has been "payed". After such a time they were sent to Elysium. So Tartaros is only a place for those who commited hubris and the enemies of the Gods. It isn't a place for ordinary humans.
Mystery religions like the Eleusian and Dionysiac were there not only to gain better "contact" with their Gods but also to secure their seat in the afterlife in the meaning they want to secure their place in Elysium.
I hope i helped answer your questions.
valete optime in pace deorum

[Tiberius Dionysius Draco]

Avete,

another question that I also wanted to ask: did the Romans or the Greek believe that the human body contained a Soul or Spirit or anything like that?

and if I understand you correctly, the Tartaros is the place where criminals are punished and the Elysium is where everybody lived happily ever after (in a matter of speaking)?

valete,

Tiberius Dionysius Draco

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salve Tiberi

There were a number of different beliefs held by the Romans on the afterlife. Implied in the cultus geniale is that the condition of life after death depended on the proper rites being performed for the deceased, rather than how they had lived their life. The distinction made among the Manes between Lares and Lemures is basically one of ritual correctness in their funerary rites. For the most part Romans believed in the soul returning to one's family and loved ones in the afterlife, in the Blessed Isles of the West. A common motif seen in Roman funerary art is the journey of the soul across the sea astride some mythological sea-creature. The Blessed Isles are depicted as a garden with children at play, or as a lush land of hunting, feasting, and gaming. Death was said to end the burdens and labors of life. The afterlife was commonly considered a place of happiness where one lived on with their ancestors. An exceptionally few souls might have been thought to move further on as Heroes living among the gods, and an exceptional few might have been thought to remain roaming the earth as evil spirits. But most people were considered to continue in a blissful afterlife among the Dis Manibus Sacrum

In the last century of the Republic things became more complex as there was a greater variety of views, but only among a very small portion of Roman society. We often hear today of the funerary inscriptions that indicated skeptical views towards there being an afterlife. The formula "non fui, fui non sum, non curo" is repeated in some instances, and there are similar ideas expressed, "When life ends, all things perish," or "We are mortals, not immortals." But such inscriptions are exceptional and rare. In the texts there is some ambiguity, leaving the matter open, as with Tacitus at the end of "Agricola" (46), "If there is any dwelling place for the spirits of the just; if, as the wise believe, noble souls do not perish ith the body, may you rest in peace and call to us, your family..."

The idea of a judgement of the soul, determining where the soul would be placed in an afterlife, is foreign to Roman belief. As with expressions of skepticism, ideas of apotheosis and judgemnt of the soul is rather rare. The theme of an astral apotheosis is found in Cicero's "Dream of Scipio." Cicero also mentions how the initiation into the rites of Ceres, or else the Greek form of the Eleusian mysteries, offered "better hope" in the afterlife. With Propertius (IV.11) you have an example of the view of a judgement of the dead weighing one's virtues. "May I be found worthy that my bones be borne to join my honored ancestors." Judges of the dead, like Rhadamantus, Minos and Aeacus, and the division of Hades into sectors of Elysium and Tartarus, or Virgil's depiction of Hades that became Dante's model, were Greek adaptations of Egyptian ideas. What they amounted to at Rome is the desire of an elite to be distinguished from the hoi poloi in the afterlife. It is exclusionary in nature, just as in some religions today there is expressed that paradise is reserved for those who are not infidels, or that heaven is not for heathens. Roman nobiles were perfectly willing to accept that slaves could enjoy a good afterlife in the Blessed Isles, in Elysium, or on the Moon, so long as they themselves could feast at the tables of the gods.

Another belief, widely held, was the Pythagorean notion of a transmigration of souls. In the philosophical version a soul may progress towards a higher life form. A person may reincarnate in order to learn some life's lesson before attaining a higher state of being, similar to Buddhist notions. But in popular belief, transmigration worked in the opposite direction, with the soul of an antisocial or wickedl person devolving into a lower lifeform. Some people were thought too evil for even this, they becoming Larvae who roamed the earth solely to torment the living. In this belief too there is an element of exclusion, keeping out the "undeserving" from the Blessed Isles.

Still today people of diverse religious beliefs will report some contact with the deceased, and the reports of near death experiences is likewise common. The native Roman views went along with those common experiences, without much elaboration.

Vale
Piscinus

[Tiberius Dionysius Draco]

Valete,

another question I forgot to ask (I'm quit forgetful). When people were buried, a coin was placed in their mouth to pay Charon, the ferryman of the dead, to transport them across the Styx.

However, in a link I found on the internet about the burial methods of the Romans, I read that most Romans were cremated, what did they do with the coin then? Did they just place it in his mouth and let it burn with the rest of his body?

And what happened to someone who died without a coin, did Charon just leave them standing on the bank of the Styx?

Or am I completely wrong and Charon only existed as a Greek god (I don't always know which god is Greek and which one is Roman)?

Valete bene,

Tiberius Dionysius Draco

p.s.:you can find the burial link at the ColVQ, the links section (obviously).

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salve Tiberii
From what I know of Roman burial methods is that they put the coin under the tongue and burned it with the body but i think placing the coin under the tongue is Hellenic in origine or Etruscan or maybe both since some theories say that Etruscans came from either Asia Minor or the Aegean Sea. So there might have been a connection between Greeks and Etruscans. I don't know if Charon was already present in early times of the Religio Romano but i do know that there was an Etruscan Charon called Charun and he had daemone followers called the Charonites who drove souls away who weren't properly buried.
From what i know is that souls who weren't properly buried were put aside until Charon wanted to transport them across the Styx. I think i read somewhere that this could sometimes take to up a 100 years and others say this person was doomed to walk the Earth as a restless spirit.
vale optime

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salve Tiberi

However, in a link I found on the internet about the burial methods of the Romans, I read that most Romans were cremated, what did they do with the coin then? Did they just place it in his mouth and let it burn with the rest of his body?
.

Obviously the placing of a coin was not part of early Roman practice since the introduction of coinage came in the historical period. However coins have been found in the cinerary urns. To my knowledge they were not damaged by flames, so probably placed in the urn after cremation. You can find more on it in JMC Toynbee Death and Burial in the Roman World, 1971.

Vale optime
Piscinus

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salve Tiberii

A Hellenic pagan wrote an essay on Hellenic burial customs and with her permision, i can post it here as can it on our website so long as she is credited and linked back to her website. So here it is. This essay comes from http://www.winterscapes.com/
Ancient Hellenic Burial Rites
Back to Hellenism ~ Back to Temenos



Who knows then whether Life be not Death, and what we here call Death be called Life there below?



The myth and cult of death in ancient Greece centered around the different beliefs concerning the inherent nature and fate of the psyche. Although "psyche" is often translated as "soul," that is too simplistic to be entirely correct. The psyche was the life force that combined with the body to make a person human. One could see evidence of the psyche in the phenomena of dreaming, ecstatic states and fainting, when it left the body, usually temporarily. The psyche was often thought to occupy the midriff. When it occasionally became visible, it took the form of a snake. (1)

However, in Homeric thought, the psyche was not a person's spirit or personality at all, but rather a being without feeling. Homeric poetry, which was intended for the higher classes, tended to be more cynical than the customs and beliefs of the peasants. (2) In Homer, the psyche becomes a shade after death, a mere after-image of the person it once occupied. It cannot communicate with the living, nor is it immortal. There is only one exception, in the Iliad, where sacrifices and feasting are performed at the funeral of Patroklos, showing a glimpse of the belief in the soul's continuance after death.

In Homeric thought, the average shade, after leaving the body through the mouth or wound, descended into Hades, which was beneath the earth. It passed Kerberos, the three-headed guard dog, which let souls in but did not let them back out. It then approached Charon, the ferryman of the dead. After paying Charon's fee, the shade rode his boat across the River Styx to Erebos, or Tartaros -- a dark, dismal land. It drank from the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, thereby erasing its memory and what was left of its humanity. In later years, the mythology expanded to include judges of souls: Minos, Aiakos, and Rhadamanthys, but judgment was not an original concept.



There was, however, one hope for immortality. Initiates into the Eleusinian Mysteries (3) were promised a wonderful afterlife, one in which they retained the memory of who they were, and lived in the Elysian Plain forever. The Elysian Plain, or the Isles of the Blessed, was located at the ends of the earth, not below it (according to most sources), and it was a paradise where the skies were always clear and every day was joyous. Lamellae found in an ash urn give instructions to the dead that may be intended for initiates:

You will find to the left of the House of Hades a spring, and by its side a white cypress standing. Do not approach near this spring. You will find another, with cold water flowing from the Lake of Memory, and sentinels before it. Say, 'I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but my race is of Heaven. You know this already. But I am parched and perishing of thirst. Quick, give me the cold water flowing from the Lake of Memory.' Then they will freely let you drink from the holy spring, and, after, you will have lordship with the other heroes.

There were other Mystery cults in ancient Greece, and it is probable that initiates of these as well were given eternal life after death. Lamellae that seem intended to be read to a brand-new initiate of the Dionysian Mysteries include the line: 'And below the earth there await you the same rites as for the other blessed ones.'

Reincarnation, a common philosophy in other cultures, does not seem to have been a popular belief among the Greeks, but in later times it became part of the doctrines of the Orphics and the Pythagoreans.



The actual process of burial changed little through the ages. The Mycenaeans, the culture that lived in Greece before the Hellenic people, buried the dead with their possessions, often reusing older graves. Sometimes a altar was constructed over the grave with a funnel that went down to the person within, so that libations could be poured directly to the dead. There is some evidence that the Mycenaeans may have practiced embalment.

Although the cultures that preceded the Greeks practiced inhumation exclusively, the Greeks eventually developed the custom of cremation (which may have been brought from the Near East), and the two methods were used alternately over time. Some thought that burning the body was necessary for the psyche to leave (or at least, to leave immediately), so cremation was performed for the sake of the dead man's soul, and so that the surviving relatives would not be plagued by his ghost. The ashes were then placed in an amphora and buried in the same fashion as a body.

In the Bronze Age, adults were cremated and children were inhumed, both in chamber tombs or pit graves. Offerings to the dead included oil flasks, cups, bowls and vases, jewelry, and sometimes weapons. Food and drink were also left, some of it burnt.

In the Geometric Period, the manner of burial varied. Inhumed bodies were buried in a shroud, without a coffin, and the ashes of those cremated were buried in amphorae of different shapes for men and women. Grave markers were made of wood, stone or earth or decorated vases, and were placed over the head or the urn. Animals, or parts thereof, were offered to the dead.

During the Archaic Period, cremation became more popular, and began to be executed in the grave itself (they were previously performed at another location, and the ashes brought to the grave). Burials in the city may have been banned at this time. Tombs were built above graves, and gravestones became more elaborate. Inscriptions on the stelai told the name of the deceased, his family and who erected the monument.

In the Classical Period, graves lined the roads and the course of the city walls. Offerings were placed in special ditches within the grave. Lekythoi, or oil jars, were given, with scenes of burial or death, including various chthonic spirits. Stelai became more ornate with carvings of animals and mythological creatures, especially sirens. Sparta is the only exception to this; there burials were allowed in the city so that the people would not fear death, and bodies were wrapped simply and left no offerings. The Classical Period is when most of our information on burial customs is found.

By the Hellenistic Period, inhumation had become more common than cremation again. It is in this period that the coin offering to Charon is first seen.



It was very important to the Greeks to be buried in their homeland by their close family. (4) The rituals accompanying death were often expensive, and over time laws were enacted that limited the cost of funerals. Although women were a crucial element of the rituals, only women who were closely related to the deceased or over the age of sixty were allowed to participate.

The burial rites began on the day after death. The eyes and mouth of the dead person were closed, the body was washed and anointed, with a laurel branch used to sprinkle sanctified water. A coin for Charon was fixed between the teeth (though later this was substituted with a fake coin called "ghost money" which was left in the mouth, hand or loose in the grave). The body was then wrapped in a linen shroud and crowned with garlands, and sometimes it was laid on vine branches. Oregano was put on the body to ward off evil spirits. Finally, the body was laid on a bier, with its feet facing the door, in the house for a whole day; this was called prothesis. Women lamented, and men came to pay their respects.

On the third day after death, before sunrise, the corpse was brought out in a procession to the cemetery; this was called ekphora. The women displayed violent exhibitions of grief to please the dead spirit and sang a funeral dirge; but in some places laws limited the noise during the procession. Vase paintings show female mourners in a particular ritual position, with their hands placed on their heads. Sometimes the mourners made themselves physically unclean as an expression of their grief.

At the cemetery, the body was lowered into the grave, and libations were made and offerings left. Cups were common as offerings, perhaps because the dead were often referred to as thirsty. Sacrifices during the funeral included wine, oil, honey, and certain animals. When the dirt was put over the body, seeds were scattered upon it, to return that patch of land to the use of the living. A gravestone of some sort was erected on the burial mound, sometimes a phallus or a herm (a primitive idol of Hermes, the guide of souls). In older times, trees were planted around the grave. The graves, and even entire cemeteries, were often oriented to the West, where the land of the dead was said to lie.

The family then returned to the home of the deceased, which was marked by a particular kind of vessel, both as a warning to others that the house was unclean, and for use as a receptacle for pure water (often from the sea). Water and fire from the house were polluted, and had to be brought in from outside. The family purified themselves and put on garlands. Then they sat down to a funeral feast, called a perideipnon. At this feast, which in older times was held at the graveside, the dead man was said to be present, and the diners would speak only of praise for him. This was the last consecutive day of funeral rites for most people; the funerals of very important men sometimes ended in athletic contests.

On the third day after the funeral, food offerings were left at the grave, and again on the ninth day, which was commonly the end of the mourning period.



However, worship of the dead and especially one's ancestors did not end at funerals; it was a lifelong duty, especially for a dead man's oldest son. Centered around the grave spot, the commemoration of a particular deceased family member took place on the dead man or woman's birthday, as well as the anniversary of his or her death. The latter was a very important occasion, which included a visit to the tomb and the offering of flowers and ribbons.

The thirtieth of each month marked a general feast of the dead, and there were also large festivals in Athens that were dedicated to the dead and ancestors. The Genesia, on the fifth day of Boedromion, was a day for people to gather together, each paying tribute to their own ancestors. And the Anthesteria, which took place on the three days before the full moon in the month of Anthesterion, was a festival of the dead associated with the chthonic aspect of the god Dionysus.

Ancestors were thought to be able to help give fertility of all kinds, and were often sacrificed to and prayed to for good crops and fertile wombs. However, the dead were also feared, and people would pass by graves silently, so as to avoid attracting the attention of the soul within. This custom, as well as the prevalence of rites performed at the graves themselves, seems to show that they believed at least some aspect of the psyche remained in the grave site.



The final aspect of the cult of the dead was the worship of chthonic deities and spirits. Hades is the god of the dead, the lord of the underworld. Persephone is his kidnapped mistress, who rules with him for part of the year. Thanatos is death personified, and is often portrayed with his brother Hypnos, who is sleep. Ge, or Gaia, the earth, sometimes functions as a chthonic goddess. Hermes Psychopompos is the guide of souls to the underworld.

Offerings to these deities, and other spirits of the dead, included pomegranates, cooked vegetables and seeds, pigs, rams, and cocks, though only female or castrated animals were sacrificed. Food that fell to the ground was also left for them. Sometimes sacrifices were buried or thrown in pits or even graves, to be closer to the underworld. And offerings were sometimes "killed" or ruined before being given, because it was thought that everything was reversed in the underworld, and therefore a thing must be broken for it to be whole there.

And perhaps that is why there are so many captivating stories about mortals descending into Hades while still alive and just barely making it back to the upper world with some treasure. It is against the nature of things to go down to the other side a whole and living being. First our mortality must break, and then we may become whole again below the earth.

Notes

(1) The snake appears throughout Greek mythology and custom, sometimes as a soul, a chthonic entity, an ancestor or a house spirit.

(2) Almost every custom associated with death and burial that was practiced by the average Greek shows a belief in the continuance of the soul after death.

(3) The Eleusinian Mysteries was the name of the famous cult of Demeter and Persephone, whose secret rites were performed every fall, commemorating Persephone's descent into the Underworld.

(4)When a person died away from home, their soul had to be called back somehow to an empty grave called a cenotaph, where the person was represented by a stone. Cenotaphs were tended by relatives in the same manner as real graves.

Brief Bibliography

Kurtz, Donna and John Boardman, Greek Burial Customs

Rohde, Erwin, Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks

Meyer, Marvin W, ed. The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook

Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion
vale optime in pace deorum

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salvete
Damn it, i forgot to mention that this was written by Oenochoe and it is she who is credited for this work.
valete

[Anonymous]

Avete!

So briefly and summarised, what where the places a soul could possibly go to in the Religio Romana? Were all people treated equally, or were warriors, patricians, and plebeians treated differently?

Valete in pace deorum!
Lucius Aurelius Flavus.

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salvete

In the earliest graves there is no really distinguishing between patricians and plebeians, or Latins from Sabines, and the idea of warriors being some separate and distinct class is alien to Roman society. All Roman men were warriors as well as farmers and priests. So I do not know what you mean by asking if warriors were treated any differently. There is some difference between women and men, although some women have been found in cremation deposits along with bronze helmets and weapons. There is a more notable distinction in any period that was made between individuals according to age. Young men, all young women, and all children were buried rather than cremated, and do not contain bronze weapons, but some do contain bronze implements.

Where souls went was either to what were referred to as "the Western Lands" similar to Elyssium, with which it was later identified, or else the spirits of the dead became Manes and remained with their respective family. There seems to have been some notice of the transmigration of souls, reincarnation, from I would guess was the Middle Republic.

"Long may it be e'er to Jove thou shalt ascend as His guest, or if He is inpatient, let Him descend" (Martialis Epigrammata VIII 39.5-6)

Ideas of apotheosis and ascending to the realms of the celestial gods, as Martial expresses here, are of a later period.

Vale bene