Language/Ancient-greek-to-1453/Culture/Ancient-Greek-funeral-and-burial-practices

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Ancient Greek Funeral and Burial Practices

Last Rites[edit | edit source]

Ancient Greek burial practices are often referred to in ancient Greek literature, archaeological records, and art.

Findings associated with burials are an important source for ancient Greek culture. A dying person can prepare by organizing future care for the children, praying, sending all valuables to close family, and gathering family members together for a farewell.

After the death of an oikos member, the surviving members of the household washed their bodies. Often women were responsible for this task. Most likely, this was considered a woman's duty because it fell within the domestic sphere, and therefore, the sphere of housewives. The prosthesis, or the arrangement of the body, also occurred inside the house.

The body was placed on a kline, or sofa, and lekythoi, or other small pots of oil, were placed around it.

Several rituals associated with death and preparations for burial occur in the ancient Greek house.

  1. First, when a family member dies, the house is polluted. This pollution requires its own cathartic rituals, which I will discuss below.
  2. Second, the washing and disposal of the corpse takes place in the oikos.
  3. Third, after the funeral, the oikos is to be cleaned of deadly pollution, and house sweepings are offered to Hestia in the hearth.

Several tragic figures have prior knowledge of their deaths and perform some of the necessary rituals in advance.

In Euripides' Alkestis, the main character knows that she is going to sacrifice her own life for that of her husband. Sophocles' Odipus, too, has knowledge of his death. These two figures perform their own final rites: they bathe in the ritual water, put on the appropriate funeral attire, say a prayer to the goddess of the hearth, Hestia, and bid farewell to their loved ones. The actions of these characters are dramatic because they perform for themselves the rites usually performed for the deceased. After the funeral, the house where the death had occurred had to be cleaned. For example, an inscription by Keos, dating from the second half of the 5th century BC. This final rite, the offering to Hestia, must have concluded the “circle of life” of an ancient Greek. From the first rite of life, the amphidromy, which centered around the hearth, until the last, the final cleansing of the soul of the house in which he died, returned to Hestia. These rituals emphasize the importance of the domestic hearth as the center of domestic worship practiced in ancient Greek oikos.

Video : Funerary Rites in Ancient Greece[edit | edit source]

This video shown at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, shows a funeral rite in ancient Greece:

Sources[edit | edit source]

Author[edit source]

Marianthi

  • Ευγενική χορηγία που στοχεύει να βοηθήσει μαθητές ή μη, απανταχού της Γης, που επιδίδονται στην εκμάθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας!
  • Contribution bénévole visant à aider les personnes, partout dans le monde, qui sont engagées dans l'apprentissage de la langue grecque !
  • Voluntary contribution aimed at helping people, all over the world, who are committed to learning the Greek language! 

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