BUSTUM, in Antiquity, denotes a pyramid or pile of wood, wherein were anciently placed the bodies of the deceased, in order to be burnt.
The Romans borrowed the custom of burning their dead from the Greeks. The deceased, crowned with flowers, and dressed in his richest habits, was laid on the bustum. Some authors say it was only called bustum after the burn-
Bustum ing, quasi bene ustum vel combustum: before the burning it was more properly called pyra, during it roguis, and afterwards bustum. When the body was only burnt there, and buried elsewhere, the place was not properly called bustum, but ustrini, or ustrinum.