Studying the problem of memoria and res publica in a modern historiography includes the investigation of a funeral procession. In the works analysed in this article historians differently consider the priority of functions of historical memory in respect to pompa funebris: K.-I. Hölkeskamp singles out the communicative one, E. Flaig – the proving one, and U. Walter – both of them. E. Flaig’s pays more attention comparing with the other authors to the educational function as well. The conclusion that the reconstruction of realities of the past was accurate during pompa funebris is well-reasoned by the researchers thus contributing to the rehabilitation of historical memory of Romans as a whole, including indirectly, by opinion of the author of this article, the rehabilitation of Roman works on history. The substantiation by researchers of antiquity of the absence of falsifications in laudationes helps to soften the negative perception of reliability of the information in elogia, having the graveside orations among other primary sources.