FUNERAL Games, a part of the ceremonial of funerals amongst the ancients.
It was customary for persons of quality amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans to institute games with all sorts of exercises, to render the death of their friends more remarkable. This practice was generally received, and is frequently mentioned by ancient writers. Patroclus's funeral games occupy the greater part of one book of the
Iliad; and Agamemnon's ghost is introduced by Homer, telling the ghost of Achilles, that he had been a spectator at a great number of such solemnities.
The celebration of these games amongst the Greeks mostly consisted of horse-races; the prizes were of different sorts and value, according to the quality and magnificence of the person who celebrated them. The garlands given to victors on this occasion usually consisted of parsley, which was thought to have some relation to the dead.
These games, amongst the Romans, consisted chiefly of processions, and sometimes of mortal combats of gladiators around the funeral pile. They, as well as the Greeks, had also a custom, though very ancient, of cutting the throats of a number of captives before the pile, as victims to appease the manes of the deceased. Caesar relates that the Gauls also observed this sanguinary custom.
The funeral games were at length abolished by the Emperor Claudius.