was the name the Romans gave to undertakers because of their seat in the sacred grove of Libitina (qui libitinam faciunt, ILS 6085,94). On behalf of the affected families (or the state: Sen. Dial. 9,11,10), they organized the burials and supplied the necessary implements as well as the personnel (partly slaves: Ulp. Dig. 14,3,5,8), e.g. pollinctores , bearers, musicians (cf. Petron. Sat. 78,6), specialists for burning the corpses (ustores).
The funeral practices in the Roman cities of Italy were apparently similarly organized (ILS 6726 attests a bu…