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Introduction
Ancient Roman perceptions of the afterlife are thought to have had their roots in Ancient Greek mythology. These roots included early Ancient Roman thought on the structure and geography of the afterlife, with similar gods included. Although there was a general base in Ancient Greek myth, Ancient Roman perception of afterlife varied a great deal. These variances depended on place in class structure and which school of philosophical thought an individual prescribed to. Although accounts of different beliefs remain, there is difficulty within scholarship on discerning what was convention and what was conviction.

Difference Among Social Groups
Historical evidence primarily consists of views among philosophers and those of the upper class. A majority of historical evidence concerning beliefs of Ancient Romans come from ruling class. The top 5 percent wealthiest of society, including senators, magistrates and philosophers left the majority of primary evidence available. Within this small group there were large variances.

In a 4th century biography of Emperor Hadrian (d. 138 AD), he wrote a poem on his deathbed, in which he takes a playful tone with the afterlife. In his poem he references his soul as going on without the body. The emperor asked his soul what it would do without him. He quipped that the soul would no longer “joke and play” as it once did.

Cases of historical evidence of thoughts from the lower classes are more scarce, but do exist. Examples of lower class thought on the afterlife can be seen the select few pieces of writing that remain, as well as information that can be gleaned from observation of existing epitaphs and ancient ruins.

On many epitaphs phrases express sorrow at the loss of an individual and insinuated the departed would be able to hear their sorrow. “Dis Manibus” meaning “to the spirit (or shades) of the departed”, abbreviated to “DM” is seen very frequently on the tombs of laypeople. The extent to which these phrases were a social convention or a personal belief is unclear.

“To the spirits of the departed. I was not, I was, I am not, I don’t care.” Example of lower class Roman Epitaph from 2nd Century AD (Lectoure, France)

Physical Descriptions of Afterlife
Descriptions of the physical afterlife varied among social groups. A base in Greek Mythology to describe the physical layout of the the underworld and the dead’s role there, was still heavily used.

In a description by Ovid the afterlife is ruled by Pluto, king of the underworld. In this description there is a sloped path leading down hill into a silent underworld. The spirits of the deceased are described without body or flesh and each have different occupations according to their previous life. “...others pursue trades, imitating their old lives. Others are punished according to their crimes”

In a description by Virgil the underworld had many different levels and centers around those who had committed crimes being punished punishments. These punishments varied by the severity of the crimes they committed while alive. Punishments were given to thieves, adulterers and murderers. Crimes included in Virgil’s description that received the worst punishments were centered around abuses and betrayals of the family.

There were also satirical descriptions of the afterlife by Roman authors and poets. Lucian wrote a fictional conversation between Charon and Hermes, characters of the traditional Roman underworld. In the conversation the two discuss the difficulties of feeding those who had come to the underworld.

Philosophical Ideas
The historical evidence that remains, involving philosophical thought and discussion, is mostly the writing of early Roman philosophers, letters between those of the upper class and what can be gleaned from surviving architecture and buildings.

Ancient Roman philosophical discourse had a base in similar Ancient Greek discussion. An excerpt from Socrates’s discussion of the soul and death “Death is one of two things. Either the dead man no longer exists and has no sensation at all; or otherwise as men say, it is a change and migration of the soul from here to somewhere else” Those who prescribed to Aristotle thought death was permanent, while those that believed as Plato did subscribed to the idea of soul and body being separate entities. This disagreement over the nature of the soul after death continued into Ancient Roman discussion.

In Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.9.18 a philosophical dialogue discusses the nature of the soul in relation to death. He lays out the different arguments that were being made at the time. The debate is between the soul being inherently connected to the body or if the soul and body die together. “Further, as to what the soul is in itself, or where it is in us, or where it came from, there is much disagreement”, Cicero does not come to a conclusion in the script, instead leaves the question unanswered.

In some Ancient Roman philosophical schools there was an inherent association between the soul and the elements, which pitted the afterlife as a return to those elements. On an epitaph for Colonia Flavia Sirmium from 2nd century AD “The ground holds the body, the stone the name, and the air the soul”. Another reference to the soul and the elements comes in Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.21 “...souls removed into the air exist for a while before being changed and diffused, and are then transferred into fire and taken back into the creative intelligence of the universe, and in this way room is made to receive new souls”

In certain philosophical circles, death was seen as an end to suffering. Julius Caesar speaking of condemning a criminal to death “To men in grief and distress death comes as a release from suffering, and is not a punishment; death puts an end to all human worries, and beyond it there is no place for either sorrow or joy”

Public Views of the Afterlife
Ancient Roman Religion was primarily focused around the pragmatic advancement of the state. Roman Religion gave no assurances on what happened after death and focused primarily on the events at hand. Valerie Hope argues in that “the fate of the soul was a secondary issues; what mattered was how belief in the soul and its survival (or not) impacted upon how people lived their lives”

Ancient Roman culture involved public holidays. In some of these holidays the dead were thought to come from their afterlife to visit the living. Public contemplation of the afterlife was done through public religious events sponsored by the state. An example of this interaction is the raising of the mundus, a set of large stones at the center of a small arena in the middle of Ancient Rome.

“The mundus is thought to have been opened three times a year on the 24th of August, the 5th of October, and the 8th of November...at these times no state business was to be carried out” A description of a public holiday where dead were thought to interact with the living.

Ghosts
Ancient Romans had many stories and documented accounts that involved ghost. Ghost stories were a traditional part of culture and were often retold. The extent to which they were taken literal by the public is unclear.

Spirits could visit dreams to advise or warn the living, both in certain literal and fictional accounts. In Cicero, On Divination 1.27.56-7 Simonides properly buried a man whose body was left exposed after death and the spirit of the man came back to advise him. The spirit told him not embark on the travels he had planned. The ship he had planned to use on his voyage was lost at sea promptly after its departure; only Simonides was saved.

Modern scholars have argued that ghosts of the deceased could viewed as a symbol of a “troubled conscious”. In the poetry of Propertius, Propertius was visited by the spirit of his deceased wife Cynthia. Cynthia’s spirit was upset that he burial was rushed and not given the proper attention that she deserved. In a 3rd century AD. Biography by Philostratus a women takes another husband less than three days after her previous husband’s death. The former husband is said to come back from the grave in the form of a demon boy to wreak havoc on their home. Philostratus eventually scares the demon through his powers and is able to restore order to the house.