Roman Burial Customs
and Funerary arts
Roman Burial Customs
Roman funerary art changed throughout the course of the Republic and the Empire and comprised many different forms. Religious art was also a major form of Roman sculpture. A central feature of a Roman temple was the cult statue of the deity, Roman marble sarcophagi mostly date from the 2nd to the 4th century ad, after a change in Roman burial customs from cremation to inhumation, and were mostly made in a few major cities, including Rome and Athens, which exported them to other cities. Elsewhere the stela gravestone remained more common. The sarcophagi offer examples of intricate reliefs that depict scenes often based on Greek and Roman mythology or mystery religions that offered personal salvation, and allegorical representations. Roman funerary art also offers a variety of scenes from everyday life, such as game-playing, hunting, and military endeavors.
The Emperor Hadrian's Mausoleum - originally in the Etruscan form of cylinder covered with a mound of earth planted with trees - Belisarius converts a work of art into a fortress - beginning the transformation into its present state - the Castel Sant'Angelo
Myth and Meaning Burial Customs
Roman lawmakers became very strict regarding the ethics of laying the dead to rest. A prime issue was the legality and morality of interring the dead within the city limits.
A transition from the classical garland and seasonal reliefs with smaller mythological figures to a greater focus on full mythological scenes began with the break up of the classical style in the late second century towards the end of Marcus Aurelius' reign This shift led to the development of popular themes and meanings portrayed through mythological scenes and allegories. The most popular mythological scenes on Roman sarcophagi functioned as aids to mourning, visions of life and happiness, and opportunities for self-portrayal for Roman citizens. Images of Meleager, the hero who slew the Calydonian Boar, being mourned by his lover and hunting companion Atlanta, as well as images of Achilles mourning Patroclus were very common on sarcophagi that acted as grieving aids.
The painted mummy portraits
from the Fayum region of eygpt
Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits is the modern term given to a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to mummies from the Coptic period. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. In fact, the Fayum portraits are the only large body of art from that tradition to have survived. The portraits covered the faces of bodies that were mummified for burial. Extant examples indicate that they were mounted into the bands of cloth that were used to wrap the bodies. Almost all have now been detached from the mummies Two groups of portraits can be distinguished by technique: one of encaustic (wax) paintings, the other in tempera. The former are usually of higher quality.
Faiyum mummy portraits were an innovation dating to the Coptic period on time of the Roman occupation of Egypt. They date to the Roman period, from the late 1st century BC or the early 1st century AD onwards. It is not clear when their production ended, but recent research suggests the middle of the 3rd century.
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Marble Sarcophagus
Early Christian art quickly adopted the sarcophagus, and they are the most common form of early Christian sculpture, progressing from simple examples with symbols to elaborate fronts, often with small scenes of the Life of Christ in two rows within an architectural framework. The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (c. 359) is of this type, asnd the earlier Dogmatic Sarcophagus rather simpler. The huge porphyry Sarcophagi of Helena and Constantina are grand Imperial examples. As the sarcophagus was usually placed in a niche or against a wall in a mausoleum, they were usually only decorated on the front and two shorter sides. Many were decorated with carvings of garlands and fruits and leaves, as well as narrative scenes from Greek mythology. Battle and hunting scenes, biographical events from the life of the deceased, portrait busts, the profession of the deceased and abstract designs were also popular.
Marble Coffins for the Christian Faithful: Wealthy Christians continued to favor the sarcophagus for burial but had them carved with Christian themes and biblical subject matter. Free-standing Christian statues are rare at this time.
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The Marble Sarcophagus
Roman marble sarcophagi mostly date from the 2nd to the 4th century AD after a change in Roman burial customs from cremation to inhumation, and were mostly made in a few major cities, including Rome and Athens, which exported them to other cities. Elsewhere the stela gravestone remained more common.
The Funerary Stela
Roman Later monuments, the portrait busts and standing figures, utilize an amalgam of preexisting motifs, modified importantly by the use of veristic likeness. The desire to recreate a believable likeness of the deceased was a cornerstone of Roman memoria.
FUNERARY STELA OF
L. LARTIUS ANTUS
130 AD-138AD
FUNERARY STELA
OF
2ND TO 3RD CENTURY AD
FUNERARY STELA OF
EPIGONOS
2ND TO 3RD CENTURY AD
FUNERARY STELA
OF
2ND TO 3RD CENTURY AD