Picnics on the Tomb: Roman Graveside Feasts
A Roman family spends the afternoon feasting among the tombs—laughter, chicken bones, and wine spilled right onto the grave slab.
Unknown — ""The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus", Folio from a Falnama (Book of Omens)" (1550s), public domain
Eating With the Dead
A Roman family spends the afternoon feasting among the tombs—laughter, chicken bones, and wine spilled right onto the grave slab. This isn’t some haunted custom. It’s Sunday dinner, Roman style.
Couches for Ghosts
Death wasn’t the end of family time for Romans. Graves just outside Rome had built-in dining couches and stone tables. Archaeologists have found pottery shards, animal bones, and wine stains scattered where the living ate with their dead year after year.
Death wasn’t the end of family time for Romans. Graves in cemeteries outside the city walls often have built-in dining couches, stone tables, and even basins for washing hands. Archaeologists find pottery shards, animal bones, and wine stains littering these sites. For some Romans, keeping loved ones close meant inviting the dead to dinner—year after year, right where they lay.
