Pour One out for Me: Libations in Roman Funerary Commemoration

Pour One out for Me: Libations in Roman Funerary Commemoration

The second presentation in the Archaeological Institute of America's Dayton Society 2022-2023 Lecture Series presented by Dr. Liana Brent, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Kenyon College.

Libations (liquid offerings) for the dead were common elements in Roman funerary rituals, and many tombs were equipped with libation tubes to receive such offerings. Whether in the form of funnels carved directly into marble epitaphs or terracotta pipes sticking out of the ground next to a burial, libation facilities form a special category of commemorative object that invited the living to interact with the permeable threshold of the grave and to replicate commemorative acts in the future. Using case studies from Rome’s columbaria and my ongoing excavation of a Roman cemetery in southern Italy, this talk will highlight why such forms of funerary commemoration were especially popular among enslaved and freed individuals.

This lecture is currently scheduled to take place in person in the Science Center Auditorium (SC 114) at The University of Dayton.

For those planning to attend in person please see info on UD's guidance on face coverings here: https://udayton.edu/arc/environmental_health_and_safety/coronavirus-ud-facecovering-guidance.php 

For a campus map with building and parking information visit https://udayton.edu/map/

Thanks to the Archaeological Institute of America’s Lecture Program and its Dayton Society members access to this lecture is free and open to the public.

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Archaeological Institute of America- Dayton Society.

Archaeological Institute of America- Dayton Society - The purpose of the AIA Dayton Society is to promote the knowledge and study of, as well as interest in, archaeology and related subjects, and to further the aims and programs of the Archaeological Institute of America.