pompa funebris- tied to ius imaginum or curule office?

[Schabbes]

Hi everyone,

i've got a quick question which i've hopefully posted in the right forum: What was necessary for a magistrate in order to get a pompa funebris once he passed away- the ius imaginum or a formerly held curule office?

 

I ask because i'm not sure if the p. funebris was restricted to those with a curule office (after Sulla).

 

Greetings

Schabbes (not expecting to be carried to his grave in the near future )

[Publius Nonius Severus]

Interesting question...I don't recall any of Sulla's laws that restricted funeral processions to only those who had held curule offices. The only real distinctive source (that I could find) on the pompa funebris is from Polybius 6.53 (cited and shortened below::

 

"Whenever any illustrious man dies, he is carried at his funeral into the forum to the so‑called rostra..."

 

He then goes on to talk about the imagines and how they are displayed in the procession by the chosen wearers (dress, decorations, etc.).

 

The word Polybius uses for "illustrious" is epiphan

[Schabbes]

Interesting question...I don't recall any of Sulla's laws that restricted funeral processions to only those who had held curule offices.

 

Sorry, I expressed myself rather badly, the way i posed the question it was unclear what i meant. The reason that you found no Sullan law on funeral processions is that there probably never was one.

 

The ius imaginum, i.e. the right to show off with your granddad's wax mask, was, before Sulla, available only to curule magistrates, who were also the only ones to be allowed to hold a funeral procession. But under Sulla, the ius imaginum was extended to plebeian aediles. What i wanted to know is whether from this time onward plebeian aediles were also allowed to hold a pompa funebris (meaning that the right to hold such a one was attached to the ius imaginum), or whether the Romans continued the old practice of allowing the funeral procession only to deceased curule magistrates (meaning the right to get a pompa f. was attached to a curule magistracy).

 

This is maybe a stupid question. It would seem logical to connect ius imaginum and the right to "pompa around" with masks of your deceased family members, because if you've got the right to show these masks, why shouldn't you be allowed to do so in a funeral procession? But i've never read someone explicitly say "The ius imaginum allowed to hold a funeral procession", only "pompae funebres were restricted to former curule magistrates".

 

Greetings

Schabbes

Edited March 17, 2007 by Schabbes

[Publius Nonius Severus]

. What i wanted to know is whether from this time onward plebeian aediles were also allowed to hold a pompa funebris (meaning that the right to hold such a one was attached to the ius imaginum), or whether the Romans continued the old practice of allowing the funeral procession only to deceased curule magistrates (meaning the right to get a pompa f. was attached to a curule magistracy).

 

I think this is a very legitimate question. After perusing several secondary sources, there seems to be two (related) suppositions. 1) the pompa funeris was for "office-holders" and 2) it was for prominent/illustrious citizens. As for the actual act, almost everyone either directly or indirectly uses Polybius 6.63 as their primary source. Some of the most detail I found was in the book Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture by Harriet I. Flower (you can get a preview at Google books). But as I stated, even Polybius doesn't say anything more than "illustrious".

 

There also seems to be general acknowledgment that there could be two types of processions. One for private funerals and one for public ones. It would seem a private procession would be right to the place of internment from the home whereas the public one would include the laudatio at the rostra. Assumingly as long as the deceased held the ius imaginnum, the imagines could be displayed in the procession.

 

So, I started to look for passages in the ancient sources that mention actual public funeral proceedings to ascertain how a funeral was made public. Ideally post-Sulla sources since by then as you stated plebeian aediles earned the ius imaginum as well and this would seem to be the minimum requirement for a pompa funeris with imagines (otherwise, there isn't much point). I did find one such source that maybe clears it up:

 

Tacitus, Book VI, Chapter 11:

 

"...and then Piso, after twenty years of similar credit, was, by the Senate's decree, honoured with a public funeral."

 

From this passage (about about the funeral of a pontifex maximus) we can hopefully correctly assume that there had to be at least a senatusconsultum authorizing a public funeral. It would also suggest that one would only be authorized for "one of their own" (i.e. past or present magistrate (and probably curule)). I am afraid we may never be able to get more specific than this. I hope this may have shed a little light.

Edited March 17, 2007 by Publius Nonius Severus