A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

Sepulchral Urn in British Museum

The urnae were also of various shapes, but most commonly square or round; and upon them there was usually an inscription or epitaph (titulus or epitaphium), beginning with the letters D. M. S., or only D. M., that is, Dis Manibus Sacrum, followed by the name of the deceased, with the length of his life, &c. The woodcut opposite is a representation of a sepulchral urn in the British Museum. It is of an upright rectangular form, richly ornamented with foliage, and supported at the sides with pilasters. It is to the memory of Cossutia Prima. Its height is 21 inches, and its width at the base 14 inches 6-8ths. Below the inscription an infant genius is represented driving a car drawn by four horses.—After the bones and ashes of the deceased had been placed in the urn, the persons present were thrice sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of olive or laurel for the purpose of purification; after which they were dismissed by the praefica, or some other person, by the solemn word Ilicet, that is, ire licet. At their departure they were accustomed to bid farewell to the deceased by pronouncing the word Vale. The urns were placed in sepulchres, which, as already stated, were outside the city, though in a few cases we read of the dead being buried within the city. Thus Valerius Publicola, Tubertus, and Fabricius, were buried in the city; which right their descendants also possessed, but did not use. The vestal virgins and the emperors were buried in the city.—The verb sepelire, like the Greek θάπτειν, was applied to every mode of disposing of the dead; and sepulcrum signified any kind of tomb in which the body or bones of a man were placed. The term humare was originally used for burial in the earth, but was afterwards applied like sepelire to any mode of disposing of the dead: since it appears to have been the custom, after the body was burnt, to throw some earth upon the bones.—The places for burial were either public or private. The public places of burial were of two kinds; one for illustrious citizens, who were buried at the public expense, and the other for poor citizens, who could not afford to purchase ground for the purpose. The former was in the Campus Martius, which was ornamented with the tombs of the illustrious dead, and in the Campus Esquilinus; the latter was also in the Campus Esquilinus, and consisted of small pits or caverns, called puticuli or puticulae; but as this place rendered the neighbourhood unhealthy, it was given to Maecenas, who converted it into gardens, and built a magnificent house upon it. Private places for burial were usually by the sides of the roads 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 sepulchre 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 Bustum. 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 conditiva were sepulchres under ground, in which dead bodies were placed entire, in contradistinction 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 [[Cippus]]. The name of mausoleum, which was originally the name of the magnificent sepulchre erected by Artemisia to the memory of Mausolus, king of Caria, was sometimes given to any splendid tomb. The open space before a sepulchre was called forum, and neither this space nor the sepulchre itself could become the property of a person by usucapion. Private tombs were either built by an individual for himself and the members of his family (sepulcra familiaria), or for himself and his heirs (sepulcra hereditaria). A tomb, which was fitted up with niches to receive the funeral urns, was called columbarium, on account of the resemblance of these niches to the holes of a pigeon-house. In these tombs the ashes of the freedmen and slaves of great families were frequently placed in vessels made of baked clay, called ollae, which were let into the thickness of the wall within these niches, the lids only being seen, and the inscriptions placed in front. Tombs were of various sizes and forms, according to the wealth and taste of the owner. A sepulchre, or any place in which a person was buried, was religiosus; 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 exverrae, and the person who did it everriator. The Denicales Feriae were also days set apart for the purification of the family. The mourning and solemnities connected with the dead lasted for nine days after the funeral, at the end of which time a sacrifice was performed, called novendiale.—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 on the novendiale, and sometimes later. The name of silicernium was given to this feast. Among the tombs at Pompeii there is a funeral triclinium for the celebration of these feasts, which is represented in the annexed woodcut. It is open to the sky, and the walls are ornamented by paintings of animals in the centre of compartments, which have borders of flowers. The triclinium is made of stone, with a pedestal in the centre to receive the table. After the funeral of great men, there was, in addition to the feast for the friends of the deceased, a distribution of raw meat to the people, called visceratio, and sometimes a public banquet. Combats of gladiators and other games were also frequently exhibited in honour of the deceased. Thus at the funeral of P. Licinius Crassus, who had been Pontifex Maximus, raw meat was distributed to the people, 120 gladiators fought, and funeral games were celebrated for three days, at the end of which a public banquet was given in the forum. Public feasts and funeral games were sometimes given on the anniversary of funerals. At all banquets in honour of the dead, the guests were dressed in white.—The Romans, like the Greeks, were accustomed to visit the tombs of their relatives at certain periods, and to offer to them sacrifices and various gifts, which were called inferiae and parentalia. The Romans appear to have regarded the manes or departed souls of their ancestors as gods; whence arose the practice of presenting to them oblations, which consisted of victims, wine, milk, garlands of flowers, and other things. The tombs were sometimes illuminated on these occasions with lamps. In the latter end of the month of February there was a festival, called feralia, in which the Romans were accustomed to carry food to the sepulchres for the use of the dead. The Romans were accustomed to wear mourning for their deceased friends, which appears to have been black under the republic for both sexes. Under the empire the men continued to wear black in mourning, but the women wore white. They laid aside all kinds of ornaments, and did not cut either their hair or beard. Men appear to have usually worn their mourning for only a few days, but women for a year when they lost a husband or parent. In a public mourning on account of some signal calamity, as, for instance, the loss of a battle, or the death of an emperor, there was a total cessation from business, called justitium, which was usually ordained by public appointment. During this period the courts of justice did not sit, the shops were shut, and the soldiers freed from military duties. In a public mourning the senators did not wear the latus clavus and their rings, nor the magistrates their badges of office.

Funeral Triclinium at Pompeii. (Mazois, Pomp., 1, pl. xx.)

FURCA, which properly means a fork, was also the name of an instrument of punishment. It was a piece of wood in the form of the letter Λ, which was placed upon the shoulders of the offender, whose hands were tied to it. Slaves were frequently punished in this way, and were obliged to carry about the furca wherever they went; whence the appellation of furcifer was applied to a man as a term of reproach. The furca was used in the ancient mode of capital punishment among the Romans; the criminal was tied to it, and then scourged to death. The patibulum was also an instrument of punishment, resembling the furca; it appears to have been in the form of the letter Π. Both the furca and patibulum were also employed as crosses, to which criminals appear to have been nailed.

FURĬŌSUS. [[Curator].]

FUSCĬNA (τρίαινα), a trident, more commonly called tridens, meaning tridens stimulus, because it was originally a three-pronged goad, used to incite horses to greater swiftness. Neptune was supposed to be armed with it when he drove his chariot, and it thus became his usual attribute, perhaps with an allusion also to the use of the same instrument in harpooning fish. It is represented in the cut on [p. 84]. In the contests of gladiators, the retiarius was armed with a trident. [[Gladiatores]]

FUSTŬĀRĬUM (ξυλοκοπία), was a capital punishment inflicted upon Roman soldiers for desertion, theft, and similar crimes. It was administered in the following manner:—When a soldier was condemned, the tribune touched him slightly with a stick, upon which all the soldiers of the legion fell upon him with sticks and stones, and generally killed him upon the spot. If, however, he escaped, for he was allowed to fly, he could not return to his native country, nor did any of his relatives dare to receive him into their houses.

FŪSUS (ἄτρακτος), the spindle, was always, when in use, accompanied by the distaff (colus, ἠλακάτη), as an indispensable part of the same apparatus. The wool, flax, or other material, having been prepared for spinning, was rolled into a ball (τολύπη, glomus), which was, however, sufficiently loose to allow the fibres to be easily drawn out by the hand of the spinner. The upper part of the distaff was then inserted into this mass of flax or wool, and the lower part was held under the left arm in such a position as was most convenient for conducting the operation. The fibres were drawn out, and at the same time spirally twisted, chiefly by the use of the fore-finger and thumb of the right hand; and the thread (filum, stamen, νήμα) so produced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as great as it would carry. The spindle was a stick, 10 or 12 inches long, having at the top a slit or catch (dens, ἄγκιστρον) in which the thread was fixed, so that the weight of the spindle might continually carry down the thread as it was formed. Its lower extremity was inserted into a small wheel, called the whorl (vorticellum), made of wood, stone, or metal (see woodcut), the use of which was to keep the spindle more steady, and to promote its rotation. The accompanying woodcut shows the operation of spinning, at the moment when the woman has drawn out a sufficient length of yarn to twist it by whirling the spindle with her right thumb and fore-finger, and previously to the act of taking it out of the slit to wind it upon the bobbin (πήνιον) already formed. It was usual to have a basket to hold the distaff and spindle, with the balls of wool prepared for spinning, and the bobbins already spun. [[Calathus].] The distaff and spindle, with the wool and thread upon them, were carried in bridal processions; and, without the wool and thread, they were often suspended by females as offerings of religious gratitude, especially in old age, or on relinquishing the constant use of them. They were most frequently dedicated to Pallas, the patroness of spinning, and of the arts connected with it. They were exhibited in the representations of the three Fates, who were conceived, by their spinning, to determine the life of every man.