DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0198
BEEHIVE AND CHAMBER TOMBS 149
through it to the dead beneath ; and into it were doubtless
poured other libations dear to the dead, such as Odysseus
offers in that weird underworld scene which throws so
strong a light on the whole subject. Sent by Circe to con-
sult the soul of Teiresias the seer, he has reached the
bourne:1 " There Perimedes and Eurylochus held the vic-
tims, but I drew my sharp sword from my thigh and dug
a pit as it were a cubit in length and breadth, and about it
poured a drink offering to all the dead, first with mead and
thereafter with sweet wine, and for the third time with
water. But when I had besought the tribes of the dead
with vows and prayers, I took the sheep and cut their
throats over the trench and the dark blood flowed forth;
and, lo! the spirits of the dead that be departed gathered
them from out of Erebus. Then did I speak to my com-
pany and command them to flay the sheep that lay slain by
the pitiless sword, and to consume them with fire, and make
prayer to the gods, to mighty Hades and to dread Perse-
phone, and myself I drew the sharp sword from my thigh
and sat there, suffering none of the strengthless heads of
the dead to draw nigh to the blood, ere I had word of Tei-
resias." Before but gibbering ghosts, flitting shadow-like,
on drinking the blood they recover consciousness and
recognize Odysseus; for the blood is life.
The pit in the Vaphio tomb was used only at burials,
when the passage would be cleared. But the libations of
wine, honey, and milk, and the slaughter of victims over
the sacrificial pit — all indispensable to the well-being of
the dead — did not cease with the solemn funeral. These
rites were observed not only on special occasions, but also
at fixed times, namely, — if we may carry back so far the
known usages of historical Greece, — on the third, ninth,
1 Odyssey, xi. 23 ff.
through it to the dead beneath ; and into it were doubtless
poured other libations dear to the dead, such as Odysseus
offers in that weird underworld scene which throws so
strong a light on the whole subject. Sent by Circe to con-
sult the soul of Teiresias the seer, he has reached the
bourne:1 " There Perimedes and Eurylochus held the vic-
tims, but I drew my sharp sword from my thigh and dug
a pit as it were a cubit in length and breadth, and about it
poured a drink offering to all the dead, first with mead and
thereafter with sweet wine, and for the third time with
water. But when I had besought the tribes of the dead
with vows and prayers, I took the sheep and cut their
throats over the trench and the dark blood flowed forth;
and, lo! the spirits of the dead that be departed gathered
them from out of Erebus. Then did I speak to my com-
pany and command them to flay the sheep that lay slain by
the pitiless sword, and to consume them with fire, and make
prayer to the gods, to mighty Hades and to dread Perse-
phone, and myself I drew the sharp sword from my thigh
and sat there, suffering none of the strengthless heads of
the dead to draw nigh to the blood, ere I had word of Tei-
resias." Before but gibbering ghosts, flitting shadow-like,
on drinking the blood they recover consciousness and
recognize Odysseus; for the blood is life.
The pit in the Vaphio tomb was used only at burials,
when the passage would be cleared. But the libations of
wine, honey, and milk, and the slaughter of victims over
the sacrificial pit — all indispensable to the well-being of
the dead — did not cease with the solemn funeral. These
rites were observed not only on special occasions, but also
at fixed times, namely, — if we may carry back so far the
known usages of historical Greece, — on the third, ninth,
1 Odyssey, xi. 23 ff.