Nocturnal Rites to Appease the Untimely Dead: The Lemuria in Its Socio-Historical Context

Abstract

Ovid ( Fast. 5.429–444) tells us that the Romans undertook the rites of the Lemuria on three nights in May to appease the lemures, the restless dead. Details of the performance of this ritual remain obscure, however, as does the identity of the ghosts it aimed to address. This article argues that the Lemuria is best understood as a domestic ritual meant to placate a family’s untimely dead. Individuals cut down in relative youth by disease or misfortune were thought to be barred from rest until their natural time had been fulfilled. Consideration of the demographic complexion of Roman society suggests that any given family would have suffered a number of untimely deaths. The Lemuria’s purpose of protecting the domus—understood in terms both of people and of space—against the restless dead gains particular urgency in light of Roman means of disposing of dead infants.