Funerary Meals for the Dead
Late Roman ideas surrounding death clearly indicate some form of life after death. It is clear from textual and artifact evidence that the deceased were thought to gain benefit from sacrifices, offerings and libations. Tombstones and other funerary monuments would sometimes reference the role of food and drink in the afterlife in both explicit and subtle ways. A tombstone found at Felix Romuliana hints at the importance of wine in both life and the afterlife. The tombstone depicts a figure on a horse to the left, and to the right, three figures consisting of a man, woman and a child. The carved figures sit atop an inscribed panel which itself is flanked by grape vines rising out of a kantharos. The man on horseback has been identified as the motif of the Thracian horseman. The Thracian horseman, whose occurrences are broken up into categories of votive or funerary, can be identified with any number of heroes or gods, and in this case, the figure is associated with Dionysos (Dimitrova 210, 2002; Zivic 119, 2011). The combination of Dionysos, grape vines and the kantharos point to the importance of wine in both life and death. The sarcophagus of Titus Aelius Euangelus highlights the standing of libations in death and has an inscription which speaks directly to the viewer asking that they spill some unmixed wine on his grave as a libation (Jensen 116, 2008). There is also textual evidence that acknowledges the significance of libations. Petronius’ Satyricon contains a scene in which a character bemoans the fact that the guests were obliged to “pour out half our drinks over his lamented bones” (Rebillard 270, 2015).
Libations were not the only type of offering which could be given graveside. A tombstone from the Timgad area in Algeria makes an explicit reference to the importance of food in the afterlife. The grave marker depicts the deceased on the upper portion above a short inscription and the base is representative of a mensa. The mensa is set and ready for diners. It contains cutlery, dishes and fish among other things. Here, actual food offerings could be placed or the carvings used as representative offerings instead. Grave goods such as drinking vessels, dishware and utensils could be left in tombs (Jensen 118, 2008).
The dead played a crucial role in the feasting aspects of the pagan mourning rituals. Some graves came equipped with tubes or amphorae which allowed the living to make offerings to the deceased (Davies 152, 2013). Tombstones could depict the deceased engaging in the feast as well. The tombstone of Timocrates depicts a relatively conventional scene of the deceased reclining on a kline holding a cup in front of a table set with food. This meal of the dead, or “totenmahl”, is commonly represented on any number of different funerary monuments.