Sit Tibi Terra Levis

Roman and early Christian funerary rituals in Portugal

The impenetrable mystery of death creates different ways of coping with the sense of loss and absence in human societies. Through the attitudes towards death, one understands the way of dealing with the end of life. The Sit Tibi Terra Levis: Roman and early Christian funerary rituals in Portugal exhibition at the National Museum of Archaeology in Lisbon zooms on two Roman necropoleis excavated in different periods in Portugal and takes us into a trip from one belief to another, from Pagan Rome to the Christian world. Go to the Mosteiro de Jeronimos and see it until the end of the year.

The excavations at the necropoleis of Fraga and Silveirona, from the north and the south of the current Portuguese territory, clearly reflect the scope and limitations of the archaeological register. From the complex rituals associated with the last respects, only a few material remains survive today.

May the earth rest lightly on you (Sit tibi terra levis, according to the Roman formula), if you still go on living under the earth; rest in peace (Requievit in pace, according to the Christian formula), in the hope of resurrection. The world entered into an era which survived the political collapse of the old empire, but the same timeless question remained. The course of a civilization ended to give place to a new one.

However, if one does not properly read and safeguard such scarce vestiges, what would be left then?