Death And The Afterlife : Roman, Christianity And Epicureanism

Roman religion is not as easy to identify or describe as one might immediately suppose. Much of the difficulty in defining the religion of the Roman Republic is due to its flexibility and variability, as well as the lack of any clear division between religion, politics, and civil society during this period. It can often be difficult to tell, for example, where Roman religion ends and political ideology begins. Despite these difficulties, it is possible to make certain generalized statements. Religion in the Roman republic was extremely integrated into everyday life, it is variable and individualized, and it played a key role in upholding Roman civil and military power structures. It is also important to remember that Roman religion is not static and underwent a constant process of change over several centuries, often due to political and social concerns.

Most died or got sick from the spread of blood from gladiator fights, water disease, or alcohol consumption. Today, alcoholics are more common then they have ever been. People seem to be fond of smoking and drinking even though it contaminates their bodies. Additional factors that contributed to diseases in Ancient Rome were malaria, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever (2). Although these diseases may not be common in the United States, there are many others to take their places. For example, there are many sexually transmitted diseases such as Aids, and HIV. There is also swine flu, which is currently escalating and becoming more of a threat. Much like the United States, in Rome, disease was most common from the streets and from people not taking care or themselves. Today, because people do not keep their bodies healthy, obesity and over eating makes these diseases even more common. As a result, this can lead to another kind of disease called diabetes, which can indeed result in stroke, heart attack, and even death (7).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaimed, “A whole gospel for a whole man!” In an exposition of Romans, he explained that the Gospel cannot be watered down or taken apart; it must be preached for what it is, in its entirety (Jones). If it is true that the complete Gospel takes up the entire person, one must ask what exactly is the entire person? Traditionally, humans have been defined by a combination of body, soul, and spirit. The human body is the connection to the physical world. Most religions agree that humans were created like the rest of creation. The soul is the connection to the psychological world; it is thought to be the mind, consciousness, knowledge, reason and “uniqueness” of a

In the ancient Roman world, religion played the most important role in everyday life, as well as in matters of the state. The Romans looked to the gods for political stability and for control of the unexplainable and natural phenomenon. The gods were believed to control all aspects of Roman life, and for that reason, a great deal of importance was placed in the appropriate worship of the gods. Women played an extremely influential role in ancient Roman religion. Not only did they participate in religious rituals, but some even held religious positions as Vestal Virgins.

There were very little respect for the dead. The few left to bury the dead dumped the bodies in mass graves, in the rivers, and burned them in great piles. Proper burial rites could not be done for hundreds at a time. Most graves were more like lasagnas since people and dirt were just layered. Rivers were clogged with the dead and there were huge piles of ashes. What was the point in burying each body individually? It was hard enough as it was to get enough space to make mass

During all parts of the existence of Rome, burials and funerals were extremely important, even more so than weddings. The Romans believed that without a proper burial, a spirit would cause unhappiness for those living. While rites varied throughout different periods, traditions remained vastly, and always had the same importance.

While the model of a ‘Good Roman Death’ may have differed by person, the constant remained that a death that was rapid and without suffering, and in the company of relatives, was ideal. A Roman funeral began at the deathbed of the deceased with the last kiss, the closing of the eyes, and the calling out of their name to confirm death. The role of preparing the body was taken over by the woman of the house if a pollinctores, a male slave commissioned to lie out the body, was not employed. There were many laws surrounding the proper and decent disposal of the deceased as written in the Digest of Roman Law. Due to such laws, some worried about the legally mandated financial burden would join a burial collegium, a club in which members would make contributions to expense funerals.

Many people died when Rome’s military decided to stop wearing armor. First, they asked the emperor if they could stop wearing breastplates, and then stopped wearing their helmets. They thought the armor was heavy because they barely ever did drills or practiced in their armor. Their laziness caused many to be killed in battle by archers. Archers could shoot the Romans down with arrows from farther away because the were so unprotected. Many women may have died as a result of them being so easy to get past, bringing the birth rate down also.

On the other hand, in the Epictetus’ Enchiridion, they barely talk about love. Rather than talk about love, in Enchiridion, Epictetus mentions the idea of the dignity of life in a rational way, but not an emotional way like Christianity. Being rational seems to become the core of Stoicism. “So far, there is nothing to value myself upon. And when I find an interpreter, what remains is to make use of his instructions. This alone is the valuable thing” (Epictetus par. 49). “Never say of anything, ‘I have l lost it’; but, ‘I have returned it’"(Epictetus par.11). Even though death is the saddest thing in the life, people can overcome it by this teaching. Such matters as birth, old age, illness, and death are the inevitable routes that every human being has to across. The universal laws show that the life is an eternal thing. People should not be sad when their family members die. Epictetus seems to avoid the grieve by rationality. After learning how to accept, people will not feel fear or pain anymore. This rational optimist’s thinking leads countless followers to attain happiness.

The only thing in life that is one-hundred percent certain is death. Humans go through life ignoring this ultimate fate until the day they are confronted. What a civilization does with their deceased tells a lot about their culture and beliefs in an afterlife. Whether a person is cremated or the body is preserved, whether they are buried in the ground or placed in a tomb, and how their final place is decorated all show their cultures values and beliefs and what kind of person they were. At the Getty Villa museum one piece called the Sarcophagus with Scenes from the life of Achilles depicts how a Roman sarcophagus can show you their beliefs and customs.

The Roman Empire is one of the most well-known countries in recorded history. And this is primarily because it continues to awe people via it 's architecture, military, art, philosophy, and technology. But one of the greatest footprints Ancient Rome has left for us to study and admire is its culture. As in any society, culture in the Roman Empire was of great importance. The Romans had many beliefs, behaviors, and customs, but one of the things that stood out the most in their culture was their religion. Roman religion is no longer in practice (Scheid and Lloyd 1). However, the enthusiasm that it 's followers had still exists today. Ever since the time that Roman religion was just the religion of one city in the Mediterranean region (Rüpke 3), people have always been marveled by the interesting and spectacular uniqueness of Rome’s religion that has survived throughout the decades of human curiosity.

Death In Rome when you died it was very important that you were buried properly and the correct procedure was followed. If something didn’t go right the funeral would start again. The Romans believed in life after death, and the souls of the dead could help the living or make life hard for them. To insure that the souls of the dead rested in peace a gold coin would be placed under the tongue, this was to pay the ferryman Charon to cross the river Styx.

The importance of burial plays a great part during the time period of The Ancient Romans as they had a strong emotional attachment to the ceremonial burial of the deceased and considered it such an honourable achievement to partake in such a religious ritual such as the funeral and burial. The Romans also wanted to demonstrate iusta facere towards the dead - the great deal of respect they had as well as the rights they had as the departed.

As with most other Pauline attributed documents, 1 Corinthians is believed to be a single document that addresses salient topics and rationalizes Paul’s view of faithfulness to Christ with Corinth citizens. The newly founded church of Corinth was in correspondence with Paul requesting his answers to questions they posed on topics ranging from marriage to the resurrection of the dead; the latter being one of the most highlighted in 1 Corinthians. Paul’s assurance of resurrection illustrates a concern for Corinth as he admonishes their disbelief in resurrection of the dead with a series of explanations as to why such doubt would render the faith of Christ “in vain”. Given the context of the time, Paul’s correspondence with Corinth clearly

relevant to Rome. The purpose of this book to make the reader mindful of the primary subjects