A lacrymatory, lachrymatory or lacrimarium (from the Latin ''lacrima'', ' tear') is a small vessel of

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

or, more frequently, of

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

, found in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and late

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

tombs, and formerly supposed to have been bottles into which mourners dropped their tears. They contained perfumes and unguents, and the finding of so many of these vessels in tombs is due to the use of unguents at

funeral ceremonies A funeral is a ceremony connected with the Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture ...

. They are shaped like a spindle, or a flask with a long small neck and a body in the form of a bulb. The term ''lacrimarium'' is deceptive; there is no evidence from the ancient world to suggest the use of these

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

vessels as 'tear-catchers'.Anderson-Stojanovic, V.R. 1987. "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' Volume 91. 105–122.

References

External links

lacrymatory
at the Free Dictionary Funerals {{AncientRome-stub