Graham, E-J. 2006. The burial of the urban poor in Italy in the late Roman Republic and early Empire. BAR Int. Series 1565. Oxford, Archaeopress. (original) (raw)
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This volume examines the burial practices of the urban poor in ancient Rome during the late Roman Republic and early Empire, challenging prevailing views that marginalize this socio-economic group. It aims to reintegrate the urban poor into discussions of Roman society by exploring their burial customs, societal attitudes, and the communal aspects of death practices. By utilizing a range of archaeological and historical sources, the author seeks to enrich the understanding of how the urban poor navigated their existence and identity within the larger urban landscape.
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We are fortunate to possess a considerable amount of information concerning Roman urban society. The combination of literary texts, epigraphy and archaeology in particular, has facilitated extensive study of this aspect of the ancient world, and contributed to the emergence of a detailed picture of urban society. Although the activities of the living members of the urban community naturally feature highly in this, studies of ancient burial customs, commemorative activities and the treatment of the body have also contributed significantly towards it. The ways in which these activities, practices, customs and rituals were employed, not only to satisfy the religious demands of the dead but also to facilitate ongoing processes of negotiation for status, recognition, legitimacy and identity amongst the living, have been investigated by a number of scholars (see, for example, Bodel , which all deal extensively with the social and religious implications of funerary activity). Nevertheless, despite the great wealth of evidence for funerary activities, especially at Rome, including literary accounts of funerals, cremations and festivals and abundant archaeological evidence, epigraphy and sculpture, there remains a definite bias towards the study of the monuments, activities and behaviour of either the more elevated members of society, or individuals who were anxious to advertise their new identity and confirm their legitimacy as respectable members of the community, such as former slaves. There were, undoubtedly, vast numbers of other people, many of whom were probably unable to afford a substantial monument, and who are often missing from these investigations. Consequently, our understanding of the burial and commemorative practices of the ancient urban community in Italy is limited to a relatively small section of the population and can therefore not be considered comprehensive. This is partly a consequence of the elite dominance of the surviving evidence, with substantial and architecturally significant examples of tombs and monuments simply more likely to survive in the archaeological record, and the focus of textual sources on the activities of the privileged classes. However, it is also reflective of dismissive ancient and modern attitudes towards the Roman poor. This paper will highlight and explain these attitudes and show that ancient attitudes towards burial, commemoration and the treatment of the body actually allow us to begin to redress the balance and can help to provide greater insight into the funerary activities of the lower classes.
Burial and social change in first-millennium BC Italy: approaching social agents
Oxbow Books, 2016
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This gazette presents to the reader outside Rome news of recent archaeological activity (in the second half of 2018 and the first half of 2019) gleaned from public lectures, conferences, exhibitions, and newspaper reports.
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