LACRYMATORY (from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. lacrima, a

See also:

• TEAR

tear)  , a class of small vessels of terra-cotta, or, more frequently, of glass, found in Roman and late Greek tombs, and supposed to have been bottles into which mourners dropped their tears . They contained unguents, and to the use of unguents at funeral ceremonies the finding of so many of these vessels in tombs is due . They are shaped like a spindle, or a flask with a long small neck and a body in the form of a bulb .