In this publication, Toynbee offers a coherent and thematic exploration of how death and burial were understood and practised in the Roman world, from Pompeii to Jerusalem. The book opens with a discussion of religious beliefs surrounding death and the afterlife and explains how rituals such as cremation and burial functioned within Roman society. Extensive sections are then devoted to funeral rituals, including meals at the grave and the role of family and community in the mourning period. The author also discusses the structure and organisation of Roman cemeteries, the differences in graves between social classes, and the architectural and cultural characteristics of funerary monuments and grave goods. Through illustrations, plans, and examples from archaeology and epigraphy, Toynbee paints a broad but detailed picture of funeral practices and reflects on the broader social significance of rituals surrounding death. Jocelyn Mary Catherine Toynbee (1906-1985) was a British classicist and archaeologist specialising in classical antiquity. She was Lawrence Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Newnham College. Toynbee was also a member of the British Academy and the Royal Numismatic Society and affiliated with the British School at Rome. During her career, she wrote numerous influential works on Roman art, culture and social history.