Death is a life crisis; a time of change and transformation, for the dead and the bereaved. Thus how dying, death and death rituals are used, described, presented and interpreted is fundamental to any society. This volume includes ten chapters, from expert contributors, which explore funerary rituals and commemoration in the Roman world, focusing upon the themes of memory and mourning. How were the memories of the dead constructed and contested; what role did funerals, oratory-and history, writing play in the names of the dead; how Were the dead mourned and commemorated?

This volume challenges boundaries between traditional academic disciplines and utilizes current approaches in Scholarship. It-highlights how death was interwoven with Roman life and brings together diverse evidence such is poetry, oratory, portraiture, epigraphy, and funerary monuments. These chapters individually and collectively demonstrate the significance of studying the evidence for Roman death and death rituals, and how concerns for memory and mourning both shaped and were reflected in that evidence. --Book Jacket.