Roman Dead

[Boyar Son]

What did the Romans do about their dead after a battle?

What would they do if they lost and ran away from the site?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

In every major battle from the beginning of time til about the beginning of the twentieth century, dead were left on the field. It was impossible to remove all of your dead from the field of battle. The winning side would go over the field and collect all of the weapons, armor, jewelry, and various metal things and leave the rest. Nobles from the winning side were probably found and give a proper funeral, but the rest just rotted.

At the site of the battle of Gettysburg, bones still turn up now and again if there is a heavy rain.

[Subedei]

I think in some cases the dead were burried in mass graves. Reason may be, that plagues were a danger. This may at least be true for the Ancient world.

I always assumed nomads burned their dead.

Anyways: correct me if i am wrong, as I am not 100% sure about my assumptions.

[Cheexsta]

There was an interesting documentary on the history channel recently about Hannibal that suggested that he did cremate the bodies of dead Romans after Cannae (IIRC), possibly to prevent plague epidemic in the Italic towns he was trying win the loyalty of. This was based off findings of large "ovens" that was assumed to be for this use. I don't recall reading anything about it before seeing this doco, though.

[macsen rufus]

I'm not sure about the Romans, but certainly in Hellenic warfare it was common for the dead to be buried or returned home. Truces for burials were not uncommon, and I recall (though dimly) one battle in which the Spartans were defeated (possibly by Thebes?) at which the victors insisted the Spartans bury their allies first, to make the point over how many Spartans lay dead on the field. But of course this was in the more ritualised battles of hoplite warfare.

[L.C.Cinna]

Roman dead were burried if possible as it seems to have been common in the ancient world. They even returned to bury Varus' dead.

[paullus]

One of the big shockers with the Galatians was that they didn't seek truce in battle to collect the bodies of their dead, or so claimed Pausanias. The Romans had a similar practice to the Galatians, though. The Greeks, perturbed as they were by the Galatian indifference to the intermingled and exposed dead, usually sought to give them burial. So its also notable the few times they either were not allowed to retrieve their dead, or no one came along to do so (I'm trying to remember the battle, but there is a battle where ~6,000 are killed, the dead aren't retrieved, and Polybius or Plutarch--or maybe someone else--mentions that people still find bones and equipment turning up there).

[abou]

I know that Antiochos III buried the Makedonian dead at Kynoskephalai when he went to Greece.

[The Wicked]

Well the ancient Hellenes burned their dead and always after the battle even the defeted side was able to collect their dead to burn them it was a dishonour for them to leave their dead in battlefield with no proper burial...One good example is the campaing of Alexander the Great where the ashes of his dead soldiers returned back to their homes with all the honours for the family of the dead that died brave in combat ....And if you want more mythical-historical : the Troyan War ...

[Cyclops]

Roman dead were burried if possible as it seems to have been common in the ancient world. They even returned to bury Varus' dead.

I just read that in Tacitus. I think for the Romans mass burial was the rule.

Cremation takes a heap of wood unless the bodies have been exposed/allowed to decay and lose their moisture.

I understand Zoroastrians expose their dead on "Towers of Silence" until the bones are stripped, so maybe Persians/other Easterners left their dead exposed?