Accessibility statement

Death, Burial, & Commemoration in the Roman World - ARC00097M

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  • Department: Archaeology
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
    • See module specification for other years: 2022-23

Module summary

This module surveys the diverse array of Roman burial practices, across Italy and the provinces of the Roman Empire, including Gaul, Britain, North Africa, and the Danube region. It explores the meanings inherent in funerary rites, and sets burials in their landscape, settlement, and ideological contexts. The module examines the significance of the material culture employed in burial practices, including grave goods, funerary monuments, and epitaphs.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2023-24

Module aims

This modules aims:

  • To introduce students to the range of funerary evidence from the Roman world, including burials, grave furnishings and funerary monuments
  • To critically examine the evidence for, and interpretations of, burial practices in the Roman world
  • To develop a critical understanding of the ways in which Roman burial practices conveyed messages about ethnicity, social status, gender
  • To examine the evidence for regional diversity in Roman funerary practices and change over time in burial and commemorative practices
  • To develop abilities to integrate diverse sources of evidence, including archaeological, historical, scientific and epigraphic evidence
  • To develop research, analytical and presentation skills

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module the students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the diversity of sources used to examine burial practices, including those drawn from documentary analysis and archaeological science, as well as the material remains of funerary practices
  • Critically evaluate the evidence related to death and burial in the Roman world
  • Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which funerary practices were employed to convey messages about status and identity
  • Demonstrate critical engagement with a range of interpretations of archaeological and historical evidence
  • Convey complex ideas in an analytical framework through essay writing

Module content

This module surveys the diverse array of Roman burial practices, across Italy and the provinces of the Roman Empire, including Gaul, Britain, North Africa, and the Danube region. It explores the meanings inherent in funerary rites, and sets burials in their landscape, settlement, and ideological contexts. The module examines the significance of the material culture employed in burial practices, including grave goods, funerary monuments, and epitaphs. The role of funerary customs in conveying messages about status, gender, and ethnic identities also will be explored, as will the manner in which burials mediated processes of social and cultural change. The module is interdisciplinary in focus and integrates the funerary record with documentary sources and approaches from archaeological science, including bioarchaeological analysis and stable isotope evidence for diet and migration, to enable us to utilise the funerary record as a means of exploring Roman lifeways, as well as understanding death as a rite of passage. The module will explore key Roman burial sites in Italy, including Rome, Ostia, and Pompeii, as well as sites in continental Europe, Britain, and North Africa.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

Formative: oral feedback from module leaders

Summative: written feedback within the University's turnaround policy

Indicative reading

M. Carroll (2006). Spirits of the Dead. Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press

E.-J. Graham (2015). Corporeal concerns: the role of the body in the transformation of Roman mortuary practices, in Z.L. Devlin and E-J. Graham (eds), Death Embodied: Archaeological Approaches to the Treatment of the Corpse. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 41–62

V.M. Hope (2009). Roman Death: the Dying and the Dead in Ancient Rome. London: Bloomsbury


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.