What did the Romans call their dead?

Answer 1

The Latin for the dead was mortuus/mortua(masculine/feminine) or silentes. There were also other important qwords which were used for the dead. To the Romans there were three aspects of the dead: the Manes and the Lares who were Chthonic deities and the Lemures, who were deamons. Chthonic deities were subterranean gods; that is gods of the underworld (di inferi)

The manes (shades of the dead) or di (gods) manes were the souls of the dead loved ones and represented the ancestors of the family. It is thought that the word originated from an archaic adjective, manus, which meant good. They were honoured in the religious festival Parentalia or dei parentales (ancestral days) which lasted nine days beginning ion 13th February. The manes were given sacred offerings (sacrificia) of flower-garlands, wheat, salt, wine-soaked bread and violets at their tombs by their families. The festival was a time of family unity and of symbolising the ties between the living and the dead ancestors. To emphasise the importance of the family to the state, on the opening day there were public ceremonies. The Vestal priestesses conducted a public rite for the collective di manes of the city of Rome.

The end of the parentalia was marked by the Feralia on 21st may. Offering were given to the tombs of the dead ancestor consisting of 'wreaths, a sprinkling of grain and a bit of salt, bread soaked in wine and violets scattered about.' (Ovid). It was a day of public mourning and rite of placation and exorcism which seems to have been purification for the Caristia on the following day, when the family had a banquet to celebrate friendship within the family, exchange gifts and to honour their benevolent dead ancestor, the Lares. While dining, the families offered food and incense as their household gods. It was a day of reconciliation and families conflicts were to be put aside.

On the Feralia and Caristia marriages were not allowed worship of the gods was banned, the doors of temples were closed and no incense burned no the altars. Ovid said that once, during a war the Romans did not observe the Feralia. The angry spirits rose from their graves, howling and roaming the streets. The Romans then made the offerings to the tombs and these events stopped.

The Lares were the benevolent dear ancestors. They were also tutelary gods; that is, gods who provided protection. There were the Lares who were the gods of the household/ family. The Lares could also be gods who protected the neighbourhood and where housed in shrines at crossroads. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities, the state and the army were protected by their particular Llares

The lemures (singular lemur) were shades or spirits of the evil or vengeful dead. They were the shades of those who were not given a proper funeral or burial and were not honoured by the living. They were vagrant, restless, unsatiated manes who could be vengeful and torment and terrify the living. They name was probably derived from larvae (singular larva; mask). They were shapeless and lurked in the darkness and its dread. The 9th, 11th and 13th of May were days dedicated to their placation by the households in the ritual called Lemuralia or Lemuria. The head of the household got up at midnight and cast black beans behind him with averted gaze. The Lemures were presumed to feast on them. Black was the appropriate colour for offerings to chthonic deities (see below). If these malevolent shades were dissatisfied with this offering, the head of the household could frighten them into flight by the loud banging of bronze pots.