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Rogus
(215 words)

[German version]

(Latin rogus, also, esp. poetic, the Greek loan-word pyra, e.g. Verg. Aen. 6,215; Ov. Fast. 2,534). At Rome, term for the funeral pyre for the burning of corpses. It was made of pieces of wood and small items piled up at a specially determined site (ustrina) close to the place of interment. In shape it resembled a square altar (Serv. Aen. 6,177; therefore poetically referred to as ara: Ov. Tr. 3,13,21 et passim). Originally unadorned (the Tabulae duodecim forbade smoothing the logs with an axe, Cic. Leg. 2,59), the rogus was later made more elaborate according to the …

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Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Cologne), “Rogus”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1023910>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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