DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9187#0038
BURIAL CUSTOMS IN GREECE
II
in the Iliad as being placed on his pyre. While Agamemnon
pours a libation to the soul of the dead hero, Achilles plunges
his sword into the neck of one of the Trojan captives, while the
rest sit by, awaiting their fate. The inscription beneath,
PATPOKAOY TA$OS makes the identification certain.
It does not appear that among the Greeks there were any
regular ceremonies as an accompaniment of burial, any ritual
of prayer or dedication. When a public funeral took place
it is true that an oration was delivered at the grave; we have
record of orations pronounced by Pericles and Demosthenes
over those who had fallen in battle on various occasions.
Sometimes also there was a funeral feast at the tomb. But
in ordinary cases the mourners seem to have returned imme-
diately after the burial to partake of the funeral feast at the
house of a near relative or heir of the deceased, who was
himself regarded as the host on the occasion. By thus eating
and drinking with the dead, the survivors entered into a kind
of sacred communion with him ; speeches were made in his
honour, and libations poured from the cups of which in ghostly
fashion he might partake.
II
in the Iliad as being placed on his pyre. While Agamemnon
pours a libation to the soul of the dead hero, Achilles plunges
his sword into the neck of one of the Trojan captives, while the
rest sit by, awaiting their fate. The inscription beneath,
PATPOKAOY TA$OS makes the identification certain.
It does not appear that among the Greeks there were any
regular ceremonies as an accompaniment of burial, any ritual
of prayer or dedication. When a public funeral took place
it is true that an oration was delivered at the grave; we have
record of orations pronounced by Pericles and Demosthenes
over those who had fallen in battle on various occasions.
Sometimes also there was a funeral feast at the tomb. But
in ordinary cases the mourners seem to have returned imme-
diately after the burial to partake of the funeral feast at the
house of a near relative or heir of the deceased, who was
himself regarded as the host on the occasion. By thus eating
and drinking with the dead, the survivors entered into a kind
of sacred communion with him ; speeches were made in his
honour, and libations poured from the cups of which in ghostly
fashion he might partake.