JEWSJews and Muslims after the conquest because customs such as circum-
cision, ritual slaughter, inhumation, bathing, and ritual ablutions re-
ceived positive reinforcement from Islam itself.
The conflict between Jews and Magians over burial is significant
because inhumation was widely practiced by non-Magians in Iraq,
although Magians believed that the earth, one of the sacred elements,
was thereby defiled. Jews practiced a form of indigenous burial cus-
toms in which funerals were public social events. After the death the
eyes, mouth, and other bodily orifices were closed to prevent the entry
of air, the body was washed and anointed, and iron vessels were placed
on the belly to prevent swelling. Relatives tore their clothing and
removed their shoes as signs of mourning, the death was announced
publicly, and an eulogy was delivered over the deceased. Meanwhile,
the lamentation and weeping for the dead was begun both by the
relatives and by paid mourners and lamenting women. A shroud was
prepared, and the body was laid in its coffin with spices. It was carried
off to the cemetery by the procession of mourners with lamentations
and the sound of fifes. Men always walked behind the coffin, women
usually in front, either as far as the city gate (as at Mahoza) or to the
cemetery. The grave was closed by a stone, and friends who came to
console the mourners brought food for the first meal after the return
from the cemetery. The custom of dining together was abolished, as
was the use of expensive shrouds which the poor could not afford. 65
The Talmudic requirement for the dead to be guarded from the
attacks of cats and dogs^66 conflicted directly with the Magian practice
of exposing their dead to birds and beasts of prey. Consequently, in
times of persecution, as in the late fifth century, the Sasanians left the
bodies of executed Jews to be devoured by wild animals. This explains
the significance of the vision of Joseph bar Rabbi Joshua, in which he
heard that none of the creatures could approach those who were killed
by the government because of their sanctity (a familiar theme in Chris-
tian martyrologies).67 But a different turn was given to this issue by
Rabbi Nathan, who said that a deceased person would be punished
after death if he was not lamented or not buried properly, if a wild
65 Neusner, History, pp. 287-88; Rodkinson, Talmud, 11, "Sabbath," 214, 215, 351,
355,360-61; idem, VII, "Moed Katan," 42, 45; idem, VIII, "£bel Rabbathi," 2, 5, 8,
20,47, 52, 53, 59; idem, XII, "Baba Metzia," 224; idem, XV "Sanhedrin," 51, 143-
44.
66 Rodkinson, Talmud, 11, "Sabbath," 353.
67 Newman, Agricultural Life, p. 16; Rodkinson, Talmud, XIII, "Baba Bathra," 30.