Burying the dead

[kevin]

I am newbie here.
First question: does anyone know what the Romans did about burying their dead after a hard day's battle?
I am sure the deceased were stripped of army issue, but were they buried individually, en mass, or cremated?

[Titus Manlius Verus]

Welcome!

I believe this thread belongs in the Military History section.

As with most things concerning the Romans, it depended on the time, location, and the circumstances. If they were in the middle of a campaign, the soldiers would probably be stripped, identified, recorded, and and buried together in a mass grave and given basic Roman funeral rights. If it were at the end of a campaign or in peace time, then the soldiers' funeral club or comrades would see to it that their comrade got the appropriate funeral rights that matched his background. The Roman army was a multinational force composed of Italians, Scythians, Dacians, Numidians, Egyptians, Syrians, Germans, Picts, Jews, Spaniards, and hundreds of various ethnic groups that worshiped thousands upon thousands gods, spirits, and demigods. It varied a lot, depending upon what was happening at the time and the soldier's personal beliefs. I do hope this helps.

Regards,

Tyler

[Lothia]

Ave civitas,

I was wondering what the Romans did with the bodies after a battle.
I understand there were mass graves for the Roman soldiers (or mass cremations), but what of the enemy?
If it is in an uninhabited area (like Aquae Sextiae) Marius just left the Germans to rot, but what about in an inhabited rural or urban area?
There must have been a dump site for the enemy dead, they couldn't just leave them laying in the streets of a captured city or all over the field.
Any suggestions?
As always, thanks.

[Michael J. Taylor]

The other incident of the Romans notably failing to bury enemy dead were the 8000 Macedonians killed at Cynoscephalae in 197 BC; their bodies were left to rot, and were only buried in 192/1 by Antiochus III. This incident combined with the reports of exposed skeletal remains for the massacre at Aquae Sextiae suggests that the Romans left enemy bodies to decay, possibly intentionally as a symbol of Roman power.

[Nathan Ross]

This is from Tacitus, Histories, II.70, on the civil war of AD69:

Vitellius next... conceived a desire to tread the plains of Bedriacum and to see with his own eyes the traces of his recent victory. It was a revolting and ghastly sight: not forty days had passed since the battle, and on every side were mutilated corpses, severed limbs, rotting bodies of men and horses, the ground soaked with filth and gore, trees overthrown and crops trampled down in appalling devastation.

Cremona was a settled area of Italy, and the dead were (mainly) Roman citizen troops, but they were left on the battlefield for 40 days or more! My guess would be that the unburied dead were from the losing side...

So it seems that, while a victorious army would bury (or more likely cremate) its own dead, the enemy slain would be left to rot - it would be the job of the enemy themselves or their relatives, if they returned to the site, or of the local inhabitants to dispose of the corpses.

[Vindex]

MODERATOR GREEN

Thought I was suffering from deja vu!

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/17-roman-mi...tml#346855

Not a lot there, admittedly, but it is worth sometimes spending a few minutes doing a search of previous topics before posting a new one.

[ValentinianVictrix]

I'm m sure there is a reference to the Battle of Adrianople in AD378 where a number of years after the battle the bones of the fallen and unburied Romans (and possibly Goths as well) were still visible.

[Robert Vermaat]

I've put both threads together.

Adrianople? That is very interesting - can you tell me more?

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Sack of Naissus records the bones of the dead littering the city ground in Priscus' embassy of 449.

[Macedon]

A very interesting quote is that of Appianus (BC, 2.11.82) in which he writes that Gaius Julius Caesar buried Crastinus in a separate tomb near to the polyandreion, that is the common grave for the rest of the Roman dead (battle of Pharsala).

[Renatus]

I'm m sure there is a reference to the Battle of Adrianople in AD378 where a number of years after the battle the bones of the fallen and unburied Romans (and possibly Goths as well) were still visible.

Adrianople? That is very interesting - can you tell me more?

Not Adrianople but Ad Salices (Amm. 31. 7. 16):

'Finally, some of the dead, who were men of distinction, were buried in such manner as the present circumstances allowed; the bodies of the rest of the slain were devoured by the foul birds that are wont at such time to feed upon corpses, as is shown by the plains even now white with bones.' (Loeb translation)

[ValentinianVictrix]

I'm m sure there is a reference to the Battle of Adrianople in AD378 where a number of years after the battle the bones of the fallen and unburied Romans (and possibly Goths as well) were still visible.

Adrianople? That is very interesting - can you tell me more?

Not Adrianople but Ad Salices (Amm. 31. 7. 16):

'Finally, some of the dead, who were men of distinction, were buried in such manner as the present circumstances allowed; the bodies of the rest of the slain were devoured by the foul birds that are wont at such time to feed upon corpses, as is shown by the plains even now white with bones.' (Loeb translation)

Thank you Michael, I knew it was one of the Gothic battles after 376, I just could not remember which one. It was probably the case that if the area the battle was in remain in Roman hands after the battle then the dead got a proper burial. However, in the case of Ad Salices where the Goths remained undefeated in the vicinity of the battlefield then burying the commons was not the usual practice.

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

As always, your answers were illuminating. Thanks.
Tom

[Gunthamund Hasding]

Ave
there is a thesis on the net that I found interesting about the war casualties is complex and will answer most of your questions. It is called: MILITARY DEFEATS, CASUALTIES OF WAR AND THE SUCCESS OF ROME written by Brian David Turner and you can downloaded here:
https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...YPGIcS-KjA
or here
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/etd/id/2927