Cicero[1] tells us that it was generally believed that the dead lived on beneath the earth, and special…
- Date of account
- Published 1912
- Source
- Greek and Roman Ghost Stories
- Reference
- Greek and Roman Ghost Stories · selected passage 3
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English discussion of Greek and Latin source traditions
- Translation
- Lacy Collison-Morley citing classical sources in translation
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
Cicero[1] tells us that it was generally believed that the dead lived on beneath the earth, and special provision was made for them in every Latin town in the "mundus," a deep trench which was dug before the "pomerium" was traced, and regarded as the particular entrance to the lower world for the dead of the town in qu…
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyCicero[1] tells us that it was generally believed that the dead lived on beneath the earth, and special provision was made for them in every Latin town in the "mundus," a deep trench which was dug before the "pomerium" was traced, and regarded as the particular entrance to the lower world for the dead of the town in question. The trench was vaulted over, so that it might correspond more or less with the sky, a gap being left in the vault which was closed with the stone of the departed--the "lapis manalis." Corn was thrown into the trench, which was filled up with earth, and an altar erected over it. On three solemn days in the year--August 25, October 5, and November 8--the trench was opened and the stone removed, the dead thus once more having free access to the world above, where the usual offerings were made to them.[2]
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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