Cenotaph

Cenotaph. A monument raised to the memory of a dead person, whose mortal remains are elsewhere.

Cenotaph. (Gr.) A monument erected to a deceased person, but not containing the remains. Originally cenotaphs were raised for those only whose bones could not be found, who had perished at sea &c., or to one who died far away from his native town. The tomb built by a man during his life-time for himself and family was called a Cenotaph. We meet with these erections also in the middle ages, sarcophagi being placed in churches in remembrance of those buried elsewhere.

Greek for empty tomb the term describing a tomb built as a memorial for ceremonial purposes and never intended for the interment of a body. Greek writings indicate that the ancients erected many cenotaphs including one for the poet Euripides in Athens but none of these survive. The subsidiary pyramids of the 4th-6th Egyptian dynasties are probably cenotaphs. At the Abydos cenotaph chapels for private individuals are characteristic of the Middle Kingdom and there are royal cenotaph temples of the Middle and New Kingdoms. The term also refers to a monument raised to a Roman citizen who had been drowned at sea or who from any other cause failed to receive burial.