The Mundus Patet Gave Ghosts Egress

On this day in ancient Rome, the mundus was opened (mundus patet). It was one of three occasions during the year that this enclosure sacred to Dis and Proserpina [Contributions to Latin Lexicography, by Henry Nettleship] -- a round pit on the Palatine covered by a stone -- was opened, providing a means for the ghosts in the Underworld to come to the world of the living [The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic, by William Warde Fowler].

More on the Underworld

• Roman Burial Practices
• Latin Death Vocabulary
• The Underworld

Photo of the Palatine by Xerones - From Flickr Creative Commons License