Les formes de l’assistance funéraire dans l’Empire romain et leur évolution dans l’Antiquité tardive

In order to understand fully what the Church did for the burial of the poor, this paper gives an inventory of the different means a poor person had in order to obtain a decent burial in the Roman Empire, and traces the evolution of these means through late antiquity. For reasons of health and sanitation, the city appears to be responsible in the first instance for the burial of abandoned corpses and of the poor. The patronage of a rich person is also a secure mean for obtaining a decent burial either in a specific tomb or in the monument of the familia. Last, collegia often take care of the burial of their members. These different means to obtain a free or an inexpensive burial still exist during late antiquity. The major change is that the Church, in addition to its direct involvement in the burial of the poor, a matter which is not very well documented, is designated by the emperor as well as by individual donors as an intermediary to provide for the burial of the poor. [Author]