FUNERARY CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT GREECE

The Ancient Greeks placed great importance to the burial of the dead. They believed that souls could not enter the Elysian Fields till their bodies had been properly buried. So strong was this feeling among the Greeks that it was considered a religious duty to throw at least some soil upon a dead body which someone might happen to find unburied; among the Athenians, those children who were released from all other obligations to unworthy parents were nevertheless bound to bury them. The neglect of burying one's relatives is frequently mentioned by the orators as a grave charge against the moral character of a man, since the burial of the body by their relatives was an essential religious duty by the universal law of the Greeks. The common expressions for the funeral rites, called  τὰ δίκαια,( the lawful ones) show that the dead had, as it were, a legal and moral claim to burial.

At the moment of death, the eyes and mouth were closed by one of those present . According to Lucian, the coin which served as Charon 's fare was at once placed in the mouth of the deceased . This custom is first mentioned by Aristophanes, and does not appear to have been in use at a very early date. Confirmation of the practice is given by actual discoveries, for coins are frequently found in Greek tombs, and in some between the teeth of the skeleton. The body was then washed , anointed with perfumes, and clothed in rich garments, generally white in colour. These were buried or burned with the body. A wreath of flowers was placed upon the head. Golden wreaths, in imitation of laurel or other foliage, were sometimes used, and have been found in graves.

Prothesis

The body was then laid out on a bed, which appears to have been of the ordinary kind, with a pillow for supporting the head and back. This procedure was called prothesis and,by law,it took place inside the house. The feet of the deceased were turned towards the door. Special vases, probably containing perfumes, were placed beside the body. These vases were also buried with the coffin, and a large number of them have been found in graves in Attica. A few of them are in the ordinary black and red -figured styles, but the greater number are of a special ware of great beauty, manufactured for funeral purposes. In this ware the ground is white, and scenes are painted upon it in bright colours, in a freer and less rigid style than in the vases with red or black figures. A honey-cake was also placed by the side of the body. This was intended as a treat for Cerberos, the Guardian Hound of God Hades. Before the door, a vessel of water was placed, so that people who had been in the house could sprinkle it upon and be cleansed from the miasma of death.

The close relatives of the deceased assembled round the funeral bed and uttered loud lamentations. Plato himself had declared that the prothesis should not last longer than was necessary to show that death had truly taken place. It appears that singers were hired to lead the mourning chant.

Funeral Procession

The funeral took place legally, as has been already remarked, on the day following the prothesis. It might, however, be put off several days to allow of the arrival of distant friends. The early morning was the usual time. The bier was borne either by hired bearers, or, in cases where it was decided to honour the dead, by specially selected citizens. The men walked before the deceased and the women behind, and it appears that musicians were hired to play mournful tunes on the flute and sing dirges at the ekphora (procession) as well as at the prothesis. Those who accompanied the funeral wore mourning garments of a black or dark colour. The mourners would shave their head or cut their hair as a sign of grief.

Military Public Funerals

In Athens,it was customary to hold public funerals for those who had fallen in war. Thucydides describes the standard procedure on such occasions. The bones were placed on a platform (or perhaps in a booth or tent) erected for that purpose in some public place. On the day of the funerals, coffins of cypress wood, one for each tribe, were carried upon wagons. Each coffin contained the bones of the members of the tribe to which it was assigned. An empty couch, adorned as for a funeral, was borne in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. The procession was accompanied by any citizens and foreigners who wished to attend, and by women who were related to those who had fallen. In Greece, funeral orations were pronounced only at public funerals of the kind described, not over individuals, even if they might have been distinguished. This custom seems to have arisen about the time of the Persian Wars. In other respects, the procedure at a public funeral does not seem to have differed from that in use at private burials.

 It is certain, both from literary evidence and also from the excavation of tombs, that cremation and burial were both practised by the Greeks. Spartans also buried their dead. In Homer there is no mention of any burial without cremation taking place first; but in graves at Mycenae, skeletons have been found which showed no traces of fire. Evidence both of cremation and burying has been found in graves of a later date in many parts of the Greek world.

The pile of wood  upon which the body was burned was sometimes erected over the grave in which the ashes were to be buried. There is a full description of cremation in the Homeric period in Iliad , where Achilles holds the funeral of Patroclos. The pyre was made a hundred feet in length and width, and the bodies of sheep, oxen, horses, dogs, and twelve Trojan captives were placed upon it. Honey and perfumes were also poured upon it before it was lighted. When the pyre had burned down, the remains of the fire were quenched with wine, and the relatives and friends collected the bones or ashes. The remains thus collected were placed in a vessel  and buried. 
When bodies were buried without previous cremation, they were generally placed in coffins, which were called by various names, as σοροί, ληνοί, λάρνακες,  though some of these names were also applied to the urns in which the bones were collected.

Immediately after the funeral was over, the relatives gathered for a feast called nekrodeipnon ( the supper of the dead). This feast took place at the house of the relative closest to the deceased.

Other ceremonies were performed on the 3rd,9th, and the 30ieth days after the funeral.The rites on the 30th day included a repetition of the funeral feast.

It was also the custom to bring offerings to the tomb on certain days each year. Herodotus mentions that these annual sacrifices to the dead were called γενέσια, from which it is inferred that they were offered on the birthday of the deceased. The name νεκύσια was also used in the same sense. The ceremonies which were performed at these stated intervals could take place at any other time of the year, if for some reason it was necessary to appease the departed spirit. The offerings given on these occasions were called ἐναγίσματα,and consisted of libations of wine, oil, milk, honey mixed with water or milk, which were poured upon the ground. Elaborate banquets were sometimes prepared, burned in honour of the dead, and buried in a trench. Wreaths were also placed upon the grave-stones, and they were anointed with perfumes.


The period of mourning varied in length at different places. At Athens it seems to have ended it on the thirtieth day after the funeral .In Sparta, it lasted only eleven days.

Certain special rites were used in particular cases. A spear was carried in front of the body of any person who had died a violent death, as a symbol of the revenge which was to follow the murderer . In the case of those who had committed suicide, the hand which had done the deed was cut off and buried separately. Certain criminals, who were put to death by the State, were also deprived of burial, which was considered to be an additional punishment . The bodies of those persons who had been struck by lightning were regarded as sacred (ἱεροὶ νεκροί); they were not buried with others , but usually on the spot where they had been struck.


It has been already mentioned that in the public funerals of those killed in war, an empty couch was carried in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. In other cases, when a person was supposed to be dead,but his body was not found, funeral rites were performed for him. If such a person was afterwards found to be alive, he was considered impure, and was not allowed to enter temples till certain rites had been performed. These rites were a symbolism of birth and the ceremonies connected with it. The δευτερόποτμος or ὑστερόποτμος was washed, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and fed with milk. Having been thus born again into life, he was freed from his impurity.

Edited from : hellenicaworld.com