Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial

Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk is a work by the English polymath Thomas Browne, published in 1658 as the first part of a two-part work that concludes with The Garden of Cyrus.

The pretext for the book is the archaeological discovery of Anglo-Saxon pottery in Norfolk, with Browne describing the antiquities. He then provides a survey of funerary customs, both ancient and those current to his own era. In describing human nature, Browne notes the tendency of humans to solemnize both births and deaths, using their "pompous" graves to establish their self-importance.