Today I was introduced to small skeletons called larva convivialis through a TikTok video. These were used as party favors at fancy banquets in the Roman Empire, as a sort of memento mori, or a reminder of your eventual death. The memento mori of the Middle Ages were used in a religious sense, in that you’d better repent your sins and follow church practices because you never know when death is coming. It was a bit different in Rome. The reminder of death encouraged guests to enjoy themselves and their time left on earth as much as they could. Or when combined with other party decorations, they could scare the daylights out of guests for the host’s perverse pleasure, as the emperor Domitian did in 89 CE.
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The larva convivialis pictured at the top is at the Science Museum in the UK. Made of bronze, it’s been altered a bit. The lower right leg was missing, so someone used its left arm as a substitute. Here is another example, from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. It’s a bit worse for wear.
Both artifacts have articulated joints (or did at one time), so the skeletons could be posed or made to dance by shaking them. And you can still buy them today, although the plastic version from Dollar Tree is much more affordable. -via Everlasting Blort
Source: neatorama