Cremation and Interment

Cremation became general at an early epoch among the Romans. We find the custom mentioned in the Twelve Tables. (Cic. De Leg. ii. 23.) Sulla was the first of the Gens Cornelia who was burned. It is doubtful at what time cremation became general in Greece; the probability is that the innovation of burning spread more slowly in that country, and that the methods of burial and of cremation were concurrently practiced for a considerable period. Socrates, for instance, speaks of the alternative of interment or cremation for his body. (Plat. Phaed. p. [...]) Cremation is mentioned in the Iliad, (Il. xxiii, 127, and xxiv. 787.) Lucian mentions that the practice of the Persians is to bury their dead, but that of the Greeks to burn the same. (Luc. de Luct. 21.)

The manner of cremation both among the Greeks and the Romans appears to have been very similar. A pyre or pile of wood, by the Greeks called purai, by the Romans rogus, was raised to a considerable height. On this the body was laid, and the pyre was then set fire to. Oils and perfumes were cast in the flames, to assist the cremation and to impart sweet odors. If the deceased were a great personage, treasures, horses, and even slaves were burned on the pyre with him, as a mark of respect. When the pyre was quite burned down the fire was extinguished by pouring wine over the flames and hot ashes. The relatives then collected the remains of the deceased with great care, and washed them with wine, together with oil and perfume, and placed them afterward in urns. These urns were made of various materials and of different shapes; sometimes they were made of gold, (Od. xxiv. 71;) sometimes of baked clay, or marble, or alabaster.

The Romans called the urn feralis urna; it generally bore an epitaphium beginning with the letters D. M. S., meaning Dis Manibus Sacrum, or sacred to the manes; this was followed by the name of the deceased, length of his life, &c. Sometimes the S. was omitted and the letters D. M. alone employed. In some instances a little earth was cast in with the remains. Among the lower orders the same care and pomp were not observed. Although also subjected to cremation, the poorest citizens were not burned singly, but in heaps together. (Mart. lib. viii. Epig. 75.) which must have been, to say the least, a disgusting spectacle.

The system of cremation was universally practiced throughout the Roman dominion during the Empire. But as Christianity prevailed it began to fall into desuetude, and the fourth century saw the system entirely abolished. The early Christians followed the custom of the Jews, which was to bury, not to burn the dead. The Rabbis gave the text, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return,' as a reason for burial, and refused to burn the deceased members of the community. Tacitus notices the Jewish custom, and remarks of them that it is their practice 'corpora condere quam cremare' — 'to bury rather than to burn.' (Tacit. Hist. v. 5.)

The Christians, imbued with the belief that the bodies of the dead dying in grace were merely reposing in a sleep of rest and peace, followed the example of the disposal of the body of Christ, and did not burn the bodies of their dead, but laid them down in some place with great decency and care to await the resurrection. This idea is fully borne out in the Catacombs, where the inscription 'depositus in pace,' &c., is frequent, the body being but 'laid down in peace' for a little time, presently to rise up again. And the same idea is preserved in the word 'cemetery,' or 'coemeterium,' which is derived from the Greek, and means a 'sleeping room.' The resurrection being with Christians the paramount idea, they viewed with horror any attempt such as cremation, which would mangle or deface the slumberer. (See also St. Chrys. Hom. lxxxi. tom. v.)

It must not, however, be supposed that the early Christians attached any superstitious motive or false religion to their dislike of cremation. They were well aware that there was nothing whatever unchristian, or against their faith in the practice of it, but they regarded burial as more in accord with nature, with the Gospel, and with pious sentiment, respecting the dead. Minucius Felix, in his Dialogue, makes the heathen say, [...] to which the Christian answers: [...] In accordance with the practice of early Christianity, Constantine was not burned, but was buried. This custom has been perpetuated throughout Christendom unto the present day. — Fraser's Magazine.