USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Spring Grove cemetery: its history and improvements, with observations on ancient and modern places of sepulture > Part 6
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Burial Places of the Greeks.
BURIAL PLACES OF THE ·GREEKS.
THE most ancient custom of the Greeks was inhumation. The burning of the dead was introduced among them at a subsequent period, probably about the time of the Trojan war. The urns containing the ashes of the dead were kept in private houses in the interior of cities, and sometimes even in temples. These examples were at first of rare occurrence, as this dis- tinction was only granted to the heads of government, and to generals who had saved their country.
Inhumation was always more general in Greece than elsewhere, and the very salutary custom of con- veying the dead to a distance from the habitations of the living was inviolably preserved. Solon adopted this wise regulation in all its rigor; and it was only in the last days of the republic that a small number of persons were inhumed in the interior of cities. Plato did not even permit inhumation in fields fit for tillage; he reserved for that purpose dry and sandy soil. The principal cemetery of ancient Athens was situated on the sacred way at some distance from the city, and was celebrated for its tombs, mausoleums, and monuments. It was beautifully shaded with trees, and, at stated
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periods, the tombs were decorated with the choicest of flowers. The monuments which the Greeks raised to commemorate patriotism and worth were numerous, and, what is more, proved the most powerful incentives to public virtue-the most eloquent advocates of the amor patria. No nation was ever more zealous than the Greeks of paying honors to the dead. They often sacrificed excellent generals because they had not shown themselves sufficiently zealous in burying the soldiers slain in battle. Those who violated the tombs were considered as victims irrevocably destined to the anger of the gods. The Greek ever appealed to the tomb of his ancestors in the hour of danger, and rushed on the foe with the certainty of at least obtaining the death of the brave and the grave of the free. The Theban hero dreamed of the simple but imperishable column, which was raised to the unconquered Epaminondas on the field of Mantineia. The Athenian citizen gloried ,in the graves of the companions of Miltiades at Marathon, and the Spartan patriot pointed with pride to the tomb- stones of Thermopyla. The memorials erected to the departed were executed in the most costly manner, and contained inscriptions declaring the character of the dead. Lycurgus, however, would by no means allow of "talkative gravestones" for the Spartans.
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Burial Places of the Romans.
BURIAL PLACES OF THE ROMANS.
THE Romans preserved the custom indicated by nature, that of inhuming their dead.
Numa was buried upon Mount Janiculum, not then within the city. The kings who succeeded him had their sepulchers in the Campus Martius, between the city and the Tiber. The law of the twelve tables expressly interdicted the burning or burial of any dead body within the limits of the city. It appears that from the fourth century of the republic, they adopted indifferently the custom of burning and inhumation. The respect which the Romans entertained for the sepulcher can not be questioned. The ceremonies by which their monuments were consecrated, the pun- ishment against those who violated the regulations of those places, furnish abundant proofs of the popular anxiety about the last resting-place of the dead.
Under the consulate of Dullius, the most illustri- ous families had tombs or columbariums in their own grounds, which daily became more enlarged. In latter times the sepulchers of the families of the Metelli, the Claudii, the Scipiones, the Servillii, etc., were removed and placed along the highways, and thus contributed
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to the embellishment of the city, and gave names to the public ways, as the " Via Amelia," " Via Appia," "Via Lucillia," etc. Many, however, placed their tombs upon the "Collis Hortulorum," a little above the Campus Martius. The poorer classes of the Romans were interred in common burial grounds, situated with- out the Esquillian gate. Whether they were buried in deep cavities, like wells, or in close trenches, it is certain that those places diffused at times a very offen- sive smell. The places in which they burned the dead were called "ustrina." The tombs of the early Romans were in strict conformity with the austere simplicity of their national manners; but no sooner had the invincible sons of Mars enriched themselves with the spoils of Asia and Africa, and acquired from the Greeks a love of pomp and a taste for art, than they erected splendid tombs and magnificent mausoleums. The remains of many, even at this day, arrest attention and excite wonder ; for, whether we gaze on the pyra- mid of Caius Cestus, the tomb of Cecilia Metella, or the sepulcher of Cæsar, we must be equally struck with admiration of the wealth and magnificence of the Roman people, and of the pious reverence with which they con- secrate the ashes of their dead.
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Burial Places of the early Christians.
BURIAL PLACES OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
INHUMATION was established among the early Christians, and their dead were carried out of the city ; but after the Emperor Constantine had embraced the Christian religion, innovations were admitted in the mode and place of interment. The practice of burying in churches and vaults was first introduced by the erection of shrines and altars over the remains of supposed martyrs, which engendered a desire in the living to be laid near them when dead. This feeling, together with various other absurd superstitions which prevailed during the third and fourth centuries, caused about that time, burials in churchyards to become common. The first encroachment on the building itself was made in favor of Constantine the Great, who was buried in the outer porch of the church of the Apostles in Constantinople. This first step taken, it has ever since been a continued struggle between the claims of wealth and rank, and power and superstition, until the very churches, particularly in Europe, have become charnel houses.
Several ecclesiastical councils, to their credit be it said, promulgated canons in strong condemnation of
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the evil, resulting from interring the dead among the living, which, however, were unavailing for a long time, until the strong arm of the various governments inter- fered. The sacred grottoes beneath St. Peter's in Rome are among the most celebrated places of sepulture in the world. These grottoes are an extensive range of vaults running in various directions under that vast and magnificent building. Here, it is said, repose the mortal remains of St. Peter, Paul, Mark, Luke, etc., and a host of popes, patriarchs and bishops, as well as emperors, and other distinguished princes and warriors of the church. Indeed, there is scarcely a church in Rome and its precincts, but has tombs of many illus- trious and well known names. The church of Santa Croce at Florence contains the remains of Michael Angelo, Galileo, and other distinguished masters of poetry, philosophy, art, and science. The former kings of France were deposited in the church of St. Dennis near Paris, while the remains of the great Napoleon repose in the church of the Invalides. The cathedral of Toledo contains the former kings of Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella, however, repose beneath the church of Grenada. The great bulk of the poorer classes of early Christians have almost invariably been interred in the crowded little yards of their respective parish churches.
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Mohammedan Cemeteries.
MOHAMMEDAN CEMETERIES.
THE opinion of the Mohammedans that this world is only a caravansera, where man rests on his passage to another, has produced among that widely-diffused peo- ple, not only the greatest anxiety about their dead, but also a respect for their graves, altogether unparalleled in modern times.
In accordance with the general custom of the east, Moorish cemeteries are uniformly located without the city limits, and along the principal highways; and, although not surrounded by formidable stone walls, they are never profaned by the inroads of the thoughtless and the giddy. Every Friday, relatives and friends pay a visit to the graves of those whose memory they hold dear, and not unfrequently mingle their tears of unexhausted grief with the dews of heaven. What a lesson to some of our Christian friends, who visit burial places only for the sake of pleasure, often in company with those whose very tread is desecration to such a spot, and who make them places of riot, disturbance, and depredation, not only in broad daylight, but often during the deep shades of night.
In the environs of Constantinople, Smyrna, Bursa,
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and Cairo, the grounds occupied by the dead are of prodigious extent. It is believed that the dead in the East, and particularly in Turkey, occupy as much, or perhaps more, ground than the living. Turkish ceme- teries are always placed in rural situations, and cypresses are invariably planted near each Mussulman's grave; and, as no grave is opened a second time, these burial grounds form extensive forests, whose deep verdure produces a melancholy beauty, and excites sentiments very congenial to their destination. It is the particular form of the cypress tree, flamelike in shape, that has led to the myth that it originated in paradise. The most splendid mausoleums of Mohammedan princes are those of Ibrahim Pasha at Bejapoor, and the cele- brated Taje-Mahl near Agra, of which Bishop Heber says : " These people build their work like giants, and finish it like jewelers."
The monuments erected to the memory of the Persians and Turks are mostly about the size and shape of a sarcophagus, and have inscriptions from the Koran engraved on them, which are constantly enumerated by the priests.
The tomb of Mohammed stands in the south- eastern corner of the principal mosque at Medina. This holy sanctuary once served, as the temple of Del- phi did among the Greeks, as the public treasury of the nation. Here the money, jewels, and other pre- cious articles of the people, were kept in chests, or
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Mohammedan Cemeteries.
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suspended on silken ropes. Among these was a copy of the Koran in Kufic characters; a brilliant star, set in diamonds and pearls, which was suspended directly over the prophet's tomb. Most of these articles and other ornaments, sent as presents from all parts of the empire, have since been carried away by a sav- age tribe, who plundered, some years ago, the sacred cities.
The tomb is now protected from the too near approach of visitors by an iron railing, painted green, and ornamented with open-worked inscriptions of yellow bronze, supposed by the vulgar to be of gold. On the south side, where are the two principal windows, before which the devout stand when praying, there is the com- mon inscription: "There is no god but God, the evi- dent Truth." The tomb itself, as well as that of Omar and Abu Bekr which stand close to it, is concealed from the public gaze by a curtain of rich silk brocade of various colors, interwoven with silver flowers and arabesques.
The mausoleum (makbara) of Ibrahim at Beja- poor is inscribed with the whole of the Koran, sculp- tured with great skill, disposed in every variety of ornament, and rendered inexpressibly brilliant by enameled painting and gilding. Most of the monu- ments which were erected in the fourteenth century, when the Mohammedan empire had attained the climax of its glory, and which arose as if by enchantment, are
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not more astonishing in their number than in their individual vastness and splendor.
In perusing the records of the past we read the prophetic history of the future. The waves of Mo- hammedanism inundated the temple of Christ, only to be again inundated by those succeeding torrents, which will, in the end, leave them all in the lasting possession of their reappearing originators.
CHINESE CEMETERIES.
THE rural burial places in the celestial empire are generally at some distance from cities, and located on eminences, but sometimes a valley is chosen, as is the case with the celebrated vale of tombs, which is situated on the banks of the romantic lake See Hoo. Here, embosomed in trees and on the slope of a hill that descends in undulations to the margin of the lake, are seen monuments and tombs of every variety, in design, material, and execution. The grounds are shaded with luxuriant trees, among which the funereal cypress and the lignum vitæ are prominent, and extend over an area of several miles. The tombs of the mandarins and other illustrious individuals are always put in conspicuous situations, and are frequently
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Chinese Cemeteries.
superb. About Canton and Makao the highlands are set apart for burial purposes.
In the great descriptive poem, written by the Em- peror Kien-Long, in praise of the former Mandchou capital, Muckden, and of the graves of his ancestors, the most ardent admiration is expressed for free nature when but little embellished by art. The poetic prince shows a happy power, in fusing the cheerful images of the luxuriant freshness of the meadows, of the forest- crowned hills, and the peaceful dwellings of men, with the somber picture of the tombs of his forefathers. The blending of the visible impressions produced by landscapes, which serve as a back-ground to the picture, with the exalted objects of the ideal world and the ful- fillment of religious duties, together with the mention of great historical events, give a peculiar character to the whole composition.
"It has been universally admitted," says Lieut- schen, "that plantations should compensate man for the loss of those charms of which he is deprived, by his removal from a free communion with nature, his proper and most delightful place of abode." The feel- ing for nature manifested by the early East-Asiatic nations, in the choice of, and careful attention to, sacred objects, chosen from the vegetable kingdom, is most strongly and variously exhibited. Temples, cloisters, and burial places, are surrounded by gardens, and adorned with exotic trees. Chinese sepulchers are kept
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
exceedingly clean, and are built generally in the form of a horse shoe, and the family name is usually inscribed on the principal stone. The customs of the inhabitants of China have, for many ages, remained the same, and the strictest care has always been taken, and great respect shown to spots devoted to sepulture.
BURIAL PLACES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
FROM an early period it was the practice in these isles to bury the dead at a distance from the abodes of the living. In the middle ages, however, the mischiev- ous plan of placing the remains of the departed in the damp and narrow vaults of parish churches was largely followed, but now the advantages of a rural burial place are recognized by every class of society.
"The little consecrated island of Iona," says a distinguished writer, "was at one time, perhaps, unri- valed in Europe for her sepulchral monuments. Sur- rounded by upwards of three hundred crosses, erected by the principal families in the kingdom, there appeared among the splendid cenotaphs of the kings and chiefs of the isles three handsome chapels, belonging to the royal houses of Scotland, Ireland, and Norway, bearing
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British Cemeteries.
the following inscriptions : "Tumulus regum Scotia," "Tumulus regum Hibernia," and "Tumulus regum Norwe- giæ." It is painful to reflect on the paltry trifles which might have preserved these interesting mausoleums in their original state. Even the wall that formerly surrounded "Relig-oran" exists no longer, and the ashes of heroic virtue and departed royalty are reck- lessly abandoned to the hoofs of cattle, and the foot of every unclean animal.
One of the chief burial places of the ancient aristocracy of Ireland is at Muckross abbey, on the borders of the romantic lakes of Killarney. Beneath the ivy-covered ruins of this ancient abbey are seen the tombs of McCarthy Mor (the founder of the abbey in 1440), the O'Donohues, the O'Sullivans, and other distinguished Hibernians. A large yew tree, with a trunk thirteen feet in circumference, and whose branches actually support the crumbling walls, forms a canopy above the open cloisters.
In England the most noted repository of departed genius and greatness is that vast and beautiful structure, Westminster abbey. It appears as if England had enshrined within its walls the remains of all her greatest and most illustrious sons. In the sacred precincts of Saint Paul's cathedral repose the mortal remains of the greatest military and naval heroes of the kingdom. Here we find the sarcophagus containing the body of the late Duke of Wellington, the tomb of Horatio
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
Nelson, and that of Sir Christopher Wren, the builder of the edifice.
The principal rural burial place near London was, until lately, the celebrated Kensal Green cemetery. It was laid out by the late J. C. Loudon, consecrated in 1832, and contains seventy-seven acres. Within these sacred precincts are buried the remains of H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex, and the Princess Sophia; also, Allen Cunningham, and a host of distinguished indi- viduals.
The London Necropolis is situated in the midst of an elevated and extensive plateau, in the picturesque county of Surrey, and presents to the eye one of the grandest and most varied panoramas in England. The soil is a perfectly dry yellow sand, covered with an undulating greensward, and contains an area of two thousand acres. The grounds were purchased by a company, under power of an act of parliament, and four hundred acres have already been prepared for burial purposes.
In order to consult the wishes and convenience of particular religious communities and other public bodies, whole sections have been set aside for their several special uses. Among these may be mentioned the part appropriated to Roman Catholics, which has been duly consecrated by the Bishop of Southwark. Another portion has been left unconsecrated for the use of those who object to any ministerial interference in
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British Cemeteries.
the burial of the dead. When the whole of this ground is brought into use for the purpose of interment, it will form the largest cemetery in the world.
The mausoleum of the late Prince Albert is situ- ated in Windsor park, at the rear of Frogmore House. It was erected by Queen Victoria at an expense of over one million dollars. The building consists of a central octagon, surrounded by three chapels or recesses, and is eighty-three feet high. The interior decorations are exceedingly elaborate in colors and designs. The sar- cophagus, in which the remains of the late prince were deposited, was hewn from a solid rock of dark gray Scotch granite, and rests upon a slab of polished black marble, in the center of the building. Upon the lid of the sarcophagus is a recumbent figure of the Prince Consort in white marble, the work of Baron Maro- chetti.
In the vicinity of Dublin is the Prospect Ceme- tery at Glasnevin, and, in the neighborhood of Edin- burgh and Glasgow, some small, but neatly kept, rural burial places are to be found. The Necropolis at Glasgow is especially worthy of mention.
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
CEMETERIES IN FRANC
A DECREE of the National Assembly in 1790, having prohibited the dangerous custom of burial in churches, ordered the formation of cemeteries at a dis- tance from the habitations of the living.
The most interesting of these depositories of the dead, is one which has acquired European renown, under the name of "Cimitiére du Pére la Chaise." This remarkable spot is situated on the eastern limits of the city of Paris, and was consecrated in 1804 as a burial place. It contains at this time one hundred and twelve acres of undulating ground, with over one mill- ion of interments of the bodies of people of almost every nation, of every condition, of every age, and of every religion. The Russ sleeps next to the Spaniard, the Protestant next to the Catholic, the Jew next to the Turk. Individuals, the most dissimilar when alive, in faith, in feeling, and in practice, are here reconciled amid the peace-making dust of the sepulcher. In one word, this cemetery is the spot of all others, dedicated to the genius of memory, and one where a more powerful sermon is daily preached than ever fell from the lips of a Fenelon, a Massillon, or a
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Cemeteries in France.
Bossuet. It is calculated that over one hundred mill- ions of francs have been expended in the erection of monuments to the memory of the dead ; many of them are, however, disfigured by ridiculous inscriptions and other ornamental puerilities. Considerable difference of opinion prevails, however, with regard to the taste displayed in the modern burial places of the French people. It may perhaps be justly contended, that the rivalry of art which abounds here weakens the effect which the solemn character of the place ought to inspire. Some of the most remarkable monuments represent temples, sepulchral chapels, mausoleums, pyramids, and obelisks ; others present cipi, columns, altars, urns, etc. The tomb of Abelard and Heloise is a chapel of the pointed style of the thirteenth century formed by Lenoir, out of the ruins of the celebrated abbey of the Paraclete. The Jewish division, which is situated close to the above-named tomb, contains the remains of the Fould and Rothschild families, etc. The monument erected to Molière is a sarcophagus surmounted by a vase. La Fontaine has a cenotaph crowned by a fox ; and Laplace, a tomb of white marble, ornamented with a star, and encircled by palm branches. The Russian princess Demidoff has a beautiful temple of white mar- ble with a sarcophagus. In fact, the visitor to Père-la- Chaise will find the graves of the greatest men con- nected with the arts, sciences, literature, and the armies of modern France.
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
BURIAL PLACES IN GERMANY.
ONE of the largest and best kept burying grounds in that country is no doubt the cemetery at Frankfort- on-the-Main. It contains about sixty acres of level ground, with over forty thousand interments. These grounds are entered through an open colonnade with two wings, the one is the residence of the overseer, while the other is used for the deposit of bodies, previous to interment, as a precaution against premature inhuma- tion. The monuments, with the exception of a few, are not as costly as those to be seen in the principal cemeteries of the United States. In these grounds there is one of the largest and finest specimens of the cedar of Lebanon in Europe, a tree admirably adapted for the ornamentation of rural burial places. The general cemetery at Munich is surrounded by a border of trees and shrubs, with the exception of one end, in which is placed a semicircular building with vaults underneath. In the center of this building is a projection behind, called Leichenhaus, in which the dead are exposed for forty-eight hours before they are committed to the earth.
The burying grounds at Hamburg, Berlin, Dres-
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Burial Places in Germany.
den, and at many of the other large cities in Germany are generally the property of the various churches, and possess very little in the way of decorative art worthy of notice. The nobility have their mausoleums in their own parks and gardens, isolated from the common people. The most beautiful structure of this kind is undoubtedly the Greek chapel near Wiesbaden on the Rhine, containing the remains of the lamented Duchess Elizabeth of Nassau. The mausoleum in the royal gardens at Charlottenburg contains the remains of Frederick William III. and his beautiful queen Louisa, and their sculptured figures in marble by the master hand of Rauch. The remains of the imperial family of Aus- tria are deposited in the vault beneath the church of the Capuchins at Vienna. The most remarkable tomb is that of the great Empress Maria Theresa. The sar- cophagus of the unfortunate Maximilian, late Emperor of Mexico, is adorned with an elegantly-wrought silver crown and wreath bearing the following inscription : "Corrissima ucor ejus delectissima." Here is also the tomb of the Duke of Richstadt.
The remains of Frederick the Great repose in the Palace church of Potsdam, while those of Charlemagne rest beneath the Dome at Aix-la-Chapelle. Alexander von Humboldt, however, was committed to his native earth in a simple grave by the side of his previously- departed brother William. Theodore Koerner, the poet and patriot, who fell in the great war of liberation,
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
was interred by his companions-in-arms at the foot of a venerable oak, the favorite resting-place of the ancient Germans. Although the churchyards and most of the other burial places in Germany are very much crowded, the remains of the poor are not trenched into the ground in layers or thrown in a common pit, as is the case in some other countries, but each has his own grave.
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