Editing Pyre (section)

== Roman pyres ==
In the time leading up to the 2nd century AD popular funeral practices in Rome consisted of cremation with a pyre.  Ideal funeral practices meant burning an ornamental pyre for the deceased, that would burn with enough heat and a long enough time to only leave ashes and small bone fragments.  Having to use another's pyre was a sign of poverty or emergency cases.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Noy|first=David|year=2000|title='Half-burnt on an Emergency Pyre ': Roman Cremations which Went Wrong.|journal=Greece & Rome |series=Second Series|volume=47|issue=2|pages=186–196|doi=10.1093/gr/47.2.186}}</ref>

The process of constructing and properly burning a funeral pyre is a skilled task.  Often, pyres would not burn with enough heat to properly cremate human remains.  Pyres had to be maintained by stoking the flame and raking the pyre to allow good oxygen flow.  Ancient literature refers to the skilled job of an ustor, meaning a professional pyre builder derived from the Latin word 'ūrere' which means, to burn.<ref name=":1" /> However, regardless of professional build, pyres were unpredictable and would go wrong on a regular basis.  [[Pliny the Elder|The Elder Pliny]] writes of extreme cases in which bodies have been thrown from the pyre from the force of the flames. Other cases, described by [[Plutarch]], involving deceased victims of poisoning, resulted in the human body bursting open and dousing the pyre.<ref>{{cite web|title=Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+TG+13&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0065}}. Retrieved 28 November 2018.</ref>