[
    {
        "id": 210554,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1985",
        "page_number": 161,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "142\n\nJOHN KARL EVANS\n\ninherit more than a portion of his estate would not harbour strong feelings of guilt about his death, and would thus be less inclined to view his spirit as potentially malevolent. Although more work needs to be done in this area, there is some evidence that suggests that the punitive capacity of the manes did wane during the Empire. In Ravenna, for example, an impressive number of gravestones are extant which clearly show that, late in the second century A.D. and thereafter, it was no longer the ability of a spirit to avenge itself that protected the tomb from desecration, but the threat of a municipal fine. There are many variations on the warning to be read on the tombstone of L. Baebius Silvanus: siquis post obitum eorum qui supra scripti sunt has plancas aperuerit dare debebit rei publicae Ravennatium sestertium duo milia nummum \"if anyone opens this tomb after the interment of those who have been named above, let him pay 2,000 sesterces to the municipal treasury of Ravenna” (CIL 11.43 = ILS 2863).81 This takes up too much of the stone to be practical, but then everyone seems to have understood what the abbreviation S.P.OBIT.E.Q.S.S.S.H.PLANC.A.D.D.R.P.R. HS...Ñ stood for. We end, as we began, with the stock epigraphic phrase.\n\nConclusions\n\nThe cult of the dead in Rome and China, two societies far distant from one another both in space and time, have now passed in review, and several striking similarities have been observed. In each, there is an afterlife conceived in material terms, and a ritual centred on sacrificial offerings considered essential for the well-being of the deceased. The spirits of the deceased are commonly thought to be capable of punishing individuals who neglect these rites, but in so doing they infringe upon the larger sphere of the hostile and aggressive ghosts. In both societies, it can be argued that men and women cease to receive offerings as individuals when there is no one left who knew them at first hand, and that property can play as decisive a role in fixing responsibility for the maintenance of the dead as kinship. Finally, in both Rome and China the capacity of ancestral spirits for punitive action may be due at least in part to the postponement of the ritual and economic emancipation of",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210561,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1985",
        "page_number": 168,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "149\n\n47 Cf. Feuchtwang (1974), 117; Wolf (1974), 169-170; and especially C.S. Harrell, \"When a Ghost Becomes a God”, also in Rel. & Rit., 193-194, 198, and 205. Lattimore (1942), 184-202, treats the themes of untimely death and violent death on Greek and Latin gravestones in detail. The spirit of the legendary maiden Verginia, who was killed by her father to prevent her from being dishonoured by the decemvir Appius Claudius, wandered from house to house, and found no rest until all of the parties responsible for her death had been destroyed (Livy 3.58.11)—an excellent example of the motif in a literary setting.\n\n48 Cf. Ahern (1973), 241-242; Feuchtwang (1974), 112-116; and Wolf (1974), 178-179.\n\n49 On the beans, see Festus, v. faba; on the clashing of bronze, de Groot (1892-1910), 5.481-482, 745-746, 781-782, and 6.944-945, who points out that loud noises, including the clashing of brass gongs and cymbals, are a particularly effective means of warding off ghosts. On the lemuria in general, see H.J. Rose, Ancient Roman Religion (London, 1949), 181-182; Ogilvie (1969), 85; and Toynbee (1971), 64.\n\n50 Hsu (1967), 179-183; cf. G. Aijmer, “A Structural Approach to Chinese Ancestor Worship”, Bijdragen Tor De Taal-, Land-En Volkenkunde, 124 (1968), 95; and Ahern (1973), 166-167, and 173-174. Both Jordan (1972), 99-100; and Wolf (1976), 344, indicate that the ancestral tablets also receive offerings during the Ch'ing Ming festival.\n\n51 Ahern (1973), 166-167.\n\n52 On the parentalia, cf. de-Marchi (1896), 1.199-200; Cumont (1922), 54; Bömer (1943), 29-31; Rose, Ancient Roman Religion, 48-49; Ogilvie (1969), 75-76; and Toynbee (1971), 63-64.\n\n53 Cf. H.G.H. Nelson, \"Ancestor Worship and Burial Practices”, in Rel. & Rit, 275-276; and Harrell (1976), 378.\n\n54 Cf. Jordan (1972), 99-100 (who mentions in passing that birthdays are occasionally marked in the same fashion); Ahern (1973), 9, 99, 160, and 166-167; Wolf (1976), 344; and Harrell (1976), 377.\n\n=\n\n55 The evidence is typically epigraphic; cf., inter alia, CIL 5.4489 = ILS 8370 (Brescia), 5.7454 = ILS 8342 (Grazzani), 6.10248 ILS 8366 (Rome), and 10.5849 = ILS 6269 (Ferentinum). For interpretation, cf. de-Marchi (1896), 1.202-203; Cumont (1922), 53; Bömer (1943), 31-32; and Toynbee (1971), 51, 63.\n\n56 Again, the evidence is overwhelmingly epigraphic; in addition to CIL 5.4489, 5.7454, and 6.10248 above, cf. 6.10234 = ILS 7213, 11.132 = ILS 7235 (Ravenna), and 11.1436 = ILS 7258 (Pisa). Lattimore (1942), 135-141, offers the most extensive discussion of the rosalia, but cf. de-Marchi (1896), 1.201-202; Cumont (1922), 53; Bömer (1943), 31-33; and Toynbee (1971), 63, 97-98.\n\n57 Harrell (1976), 378.\n\n58 Ahern (1973), 160. In Pau-an, it is again personal remembrance that determines whether or not an ascendant will be attended individually on his death-day anniversary, or collectively at the Ch'ing Ming festival; see Jordan (1972), 99-101. H.D.R. Baker, A Chinese Lineage Village: Sheng Shui (Stanford, 1968), 62, notes that in this particular New Territories community individuals also receive sacrifices at the grave during the Ch'ing Ming and Ch'ung Yang festivals only so long as they are personally remembered.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    }
]