Gardner, Percy: Sculptured tombs of Hellas (London, 1896)

CHAPTER I

burial customs in greece

The burial of the dead was a matter as to which the
ancient Greeks had very strong feelings. When a corpse
was not committed to earth or fire, the unfortunate spirit to
which it had served as a dwelling-place was condemned to find
no rest either on earth or in the world of shades, but to
wander unhappily around the spot where it had met its fate,
or to flutter on the veree of the river of death, which it was
not permitted to cross. For such reasons, it was the first and
most important duty of an heir to see that the person whom
he succeeded met with due burial. In war, as a rule, each side
buried its own dead; and so great was the horror at neglect
of this pious office, that after a drawn battle the side which was
not in possession of the battle-field would commonly ask for
a truce for the purpose of burying the slain, though it thereby
acknowledged defeat. It is well known how bitterly the
Athenians accused their generals, because their dead were
not duly buried after the battle of Arginusae. When Admetus,
in the Alcestis of Euripides, wishes utterly to cast off his filial
relation to his father Pheres, he threatens that he will not bury
him. And when in the Antigone of Sophocles, Creon forbids
the burial of his slain enemy Polynices, the prohibition is
represented as an act of barbarous cruelty, bringing with it the
vengeance of the offended gods. In order to perform the last
rites to her brother, Antigone incurs death. The plot of the

B