To My Family and Uğraş Uzun - Bilkent University

1999: 144). On the other hand, the funerals for “ordinary” citizens, funus
translaticum, were quite similar to Greek funerals. The main emphasis in these
funerals, of whatever kind, was getting rid of the pollution brought by death and
performing the necessary rituals to propitiate the gods (Toynbee, 1971: 43).
At the funus translaticum, the ceremonies began by the gathering of the
closest relatives at the funeral house. The deceased were given a last kiss (usually
by the mother if she was alive), and the body was washed, laid out on a bier,
provided with Charon’s fee and was carried to the grave (Toynbee, 1971: 43;
Davies, 1999: 149). At intervals, the relatives lamented for the deceased until the
body was cremated or inhumed. In the case of the funerals of the upper (rich)
classes, these preparations would take as long as seven days, and the funeral
proper would be conducted by professional undertakers (libitinarii), and
gravediggers (fossores), and the masters of all these people and the ceremonies
(dissignatores) (Toynbee, 1971: 45).
Once in the grave, the family would throw earth onto the corpse, if it were
to be inhumed, after offering some gifts for the deceased. The ceremonies at the
grave continued after the deceased was inhumed with the sacrifices, and after
returning from the grave, the relatives performed a purification rite by fire and
water, suffitio (Toynbee, 1971: 50). These steps were usually followed by the
funerary feasts, silicernium, eaten on the day of the funeral, and cena
novendralis, eaten on the ninth day, the end of the mourning period, when also a
libation to Manes was poured on the burial (Toynbee, 1971: 50; Ferguson, 1982:
134).
Given the basic funerary rituals of Greeks and Romans, it is now possible
to present some suggestions about the identification of the figures next to the
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