COLLEGIA FUNERATICA

FUNERARY COLLEGIA. – A term coined by Theodor Mommsen (De Collegiis, p. 91) to designate ancient Roman “confraternities” or corporations that arose primarily to provide funeral rites and burial for their members.

I. ORIGINS

Even in the Republican period there existed guilds of artisans whose members shared not only a trade or profession but also a tomb (e.g., the collegium anularium, CIL, I, 1107; CIL, VI, 944; restitutionum, CIL, VI, 9856; tibicinum, CIL, VI, 3877). Some artisan guilds, even in the imperial age, bore names of a religious character and probably also had funerary purposes (e.g., the collegium Salutare, Bull. arch. com., 1885, p. 51, tav. 6; the collegium Sanctissimum, CIL, VI, 404; the collegium Victoriae Augustae, CIL, III, 1365, etc.). Evidence for collegia with exclusively religious and funerary aims appears only in the imperial period: such are the collegia tenuiorum (Marcian, Dig., XLVII, 22), associations that arose in the Augustan age and gathered people of modest means (clients, freedmen, slaves) with the dual purpose of venerating a common protective deity and ensuring a decent burial for deceased members.

Contrary to Mommsen’s view (loc. cit.) that all funerary collegia were identical with these collegia tenuiorum, it must be held that other varieties also existed; all the more so since Commodian’s remark (Instruct., II, 33, 12) that pagans joined collegia to secure lavish funerals presupposes the existence of funerary collegia composed of people of considerable means. Moreover, as has been said, there were several collegia that had a funerary character, though not exclusively so.

II. AIMS AND FEATURES

The main aim of the funerary collegia, which appear to have included a limited number of members, was to form a “mutual provident fund” (arca communis) for the cult expenses and burial of the members (sodales). This was achieved by each member paying a fixed monthly contribution (funeraticium) into the said fund. In turn, the collegium undertook to pay, upon the death of one of its members, a “benefit” to the latter’s heirs to cover funeral and burial costs. At the same time the collegium performed the cult of the deity whose name it bore. Like all authorized collegia, these too could possess a meeting-place (schola, templum) and a common burial ground or memorial for all their members, sometimes including women and children of their household.

### *Collegia funeraticia* (CIL, VI, 9484, 9569; IX, 584, etc.). Slaves could also be members of these collegia, provided they had the authorization of their masters (Dig. 6, 6).

### III. LEGAL REGULATION
The functioning of each of these *collegia funeraticia* was governed by a specific set of legal norms, constituting a veritable "statute." We are informed about this by the regulations concerning the Lanuvian collegium of the *Cultores Dianae et Antinoi*, established in 133 AD (CIL, XIV, 2112), as well as by legal sources.

Members of the collegium could not meet more than once a month, so as not to abuse the authorization granted to them (Marcian, *Dig.*, I, I, XLVII, tit. XXII, leg. 1, n. 1); however, for religious purposes (e.g., sacred banquets), they could meet as often as they wished, provided they did not engage in illicit conduct. The right to funeral rites and burial was conditional upon the payment of a monthly contribution (*stips menstrua*) to the collegium’s treasury. Those who had not paid this contribution for six months or more lost their right to the funeral benefit (*CIL*, X, 1579) or were expelled from the collegium. If the majority of members were delinquent, the collegium was obliged to dissolve. In cases of insolvency, the collegium could be sued by one of its members or by the heir of a member; conversely, a creditor of a member could not make claims against the member, except when the latter had ceded half of their inheritance (CIL, XIV, 2112).

Only the testamentary heir was entitled to the funeral benefit; if a member died intestate, the collegium itself provided for the funeral. If a *paritas* (CIL, XIV, 2112, lin. 26) died, the collegium was to provide 300 sesterces for the funeral, of which 50 were to be divided *ad rogus* under the name of funeral expenses. If a member died more than 20 miles from their municipality and their death had been announced, the collegium had to choose three "commissioners" from among its members to travel to the place, arrange the funeral, and account for the expenses incurred (ibid., lin. 26-29). Those who died by suicide, for whatever reason, lost their right to funeral rites (ibid., lin. 5).

Generally, the collegium itself took care of the funerals (CIL, V, 4504, 7869; VI, 9384; VII, 49; XII, 732, 736, 1189, 5874); members were obligated to attend, under penalty of a fine for those who failed to do so (CIL, XIV, 2112; *Eph. epigraphica*, 5, 1884, 498). If a member had made a will, the collegium, exempting itself from its duties, entrusted them to the appointed heir (CIL, XIV, 2112, II, lin. 1-9). In collegia of artisans, the funerary monument often appears to have been erected by an *heres et cognatus* (or *procurator*, CIL, III, 196, 265; VI, 880, etc.), who had undoubtedly received the funeral "benefit."

### IV. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER
The fundamental concept underlying the formation of these *collegia funeraticia* is essentially religious; for in ancient Roman civilization, funeral rites were closely tied to beliefs about the afterlife, and the burial of the dead was the essential condition for the peace of their spirits.

Alongside the cult of deceased members, as mentioned, the collegia also practiced the cult of the eponymous deity (e.g., *collegium Aesculapii*, *Iovis Cerneni*, etc.), in relation to which members were called *cultores* (e.g., *collegium Autum Dinae et Antinoi*, CIL, III, 926). Deceased members were honored in annual solemnities through the decoration of tombs and commemorative banquets; the latter are often alluded to in the names of members (*comestores*, CIL, IX, 3693; *convictores*, CIL, III, 1825; CIL, IX, 5383; *qui una epulo vesci solent*, CIL, XII, 6244; *sodales ex symposio*, CIL, V, 6492). The wealthier members of the collegia sometimes bequeathed funds for this purpose. The greatest diffusion of these *collegia funeraticia* coincided, in Italy and the Latin provinces of the Empire, with the 2nd century AD. Few examples are known from Africa, while they are unknown in the East and Greek provinces. During the imperial period, in connection with the specific social conditions of their members, more complex forms emerged, such as collegia of legionaries that provided for needs beyond burial, including travel expenses, etc. (Vezegio, in Salmasius, *De usuris*, p. 46; L. Renier, *Inscriptions romaines de l'Algérie*, Paris 1855-1886, pp. 60-70).

To explain the origins of Church property in the period (2nd century AD) when Christianity was officially proscribed, G. B. De Rossi advanced the theory that Christians took advantage of the legislation on pagan *collegia funeraticia* by presenting their communities in this guise. However, this theory is refuted by a series of circumstances: the Christians’ repugnance toward being seen as members of pagan *collegia*, which they opposed (cf. Tertullian, *Apolog.*, 39); the contradiction in Christians placing themselves under the protection of a law they would have violated by concealing an illicit association; and the difficulty of disguising as pagan *collegia*, which normally consisted of only a few dozen people, a community of several thousand faithful. Finally, no literary or epigraphic documentation supports this theory. Instead, it is certain that the *collegia tenuiorum* disappeared under the influence of Christianity, since the Church itself directly provided for the burial of the poor. By the time of Justinian, no trace of *collegia funeraticia* remained. For the various theories advanced by scholars to explain the legal position of the Church in the first three centuries, see *CHIESA* (A, I, VI).

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