Comparative Analysis of Funerary Practices in Roman and Yoruba Traditions: An Archaeological and Literary Study

Funerary practices are among the most archaeologically documented and textually attested dimensions of both Roman and Yoruba cultures, and their comparative analysis offers important insights into the cross-cultural dimensions of death rituals, social status commemoration, and ancestral relationships. This study conducts a systematic comparative analysis of funerary practices in Roman and Yoruba traditions, drawing on both archaeological evidence and textual sources. A comparative analytical methodology combining archaeological evidence and literary analysis was adopted, drawing on Roman funerary archaeology (principally Toynbee 2019, Pearce 2020) and literary accounts (Virgil's Aeneid Book VI, Cicero's De Legibus Book II, and Pliny's epistles on funeral customs) alongside Yoruba funerary ethnography drawn from contemporary field studies in Osun and Ekiti States and academic literature on Yoruba death rituals. The analysis examines five comparative themes: the role of funerary procession, the treatment of the corpse, the use of inscriptional commemoration, the concept of ancestral community membership, and the provision of funerary feasts. Findings reveal significant structural convergences in the social display function of funerary processions, the use of commemorative objects, and the maintenance of ongoing relationships with ancestral community members across both traditions. The study fills an analytical gap in comparative African-Roman funerary studies and contributes to broader discussions of cultural universals in mortuary practice.

Keywords: Roman funerary practices, Yoruba death rituals, comparative analysis, ancestral commemoration, mortuary archaeology