7. Study Questions Copy

The Romans believed that the soul went to the underworld to Hades and would then either go somewhere nice (Elysian Fields) or not so nice (Tartarus) depending on how you lived your life (a bit like the Christian idea of Heaven and Hell). Virgil in the Aeneid introduces the idea of rebirth and reincarnation, but this was not a mainstream idea. 

They were held up as models for emulation. 

To avoid religious pollution. 

So that the passers-by could admire them. Even in death, there was competition for status. 

Poorer people did not have the same access to resources for lavish funerals and may have had to rely on funeral clubs to meet costs. There would have been far less emphasis on making it a public spectacle. 

The epitaphs that we have will give basic information, such as family relationships, age of death, status, sometimes occupation. Those higher up may like to have been commemorated for their political offices and achievements.