Funerary Practices: Greek Burial and Lamentation Rituals Loretta M

Funerary Practices: Greek Burial and Lamentation Rituals Loretta M. Alirangues

The Greeks saw death as a time when the psyche left the body to enter Hades. This psyche could be seen, but was untouchable. Beginning in Classical times, there came to be the concepts of punishment after death or a state of blessedness. The soul responsible for a person’s personality and moral decisions received the eternal punishment or bliss for the choices of the human form. The burial rituals perhaps spawned from this belief that the soul must be guided into the afterlife. If the body was not given a proper burial according to Greek ritual, the soul would remain trapped between the worlds of the living and the underworld.

Demanding proper burial was one of the major reasons why ghosts would show themselves to the people of ancient Greece. Erwin Rohde, the author of Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks, states, “The first duty that the survivors owe to their dead is to bury the body in the customary manner…Religious requirements, however, go beyond the law.”

A Greek funeral was carried out in three stages: the body was prepared and laid out (prothesus or wake), the body was moved to the place where it would be interred (ekphora or procession), and the body or cremated remains were deposited in the tomb or grave.

Closing the eyes and the mouth of a corpse upon death was the first thing that was done to prepare the body for burial. The body was washed by the women of the household. If seawater was available, it was preferred. If the deceased was killed in battle, the wounds were cleaned and dressed.

The corpse was then dressed in an ankle-length shroud. This shroud was either white or gray. Deceased soliders were dressed in military cloaks. If the person was about to be married or had recently been married, they were dressed in their wedding attire. The hair was arranged as it had been in life; the bodies of women were given earrings and a necklace to wear. The jewelry was usually modest.

In antiquity it was customary to place a diadem (crown) on the head of the corpse. The exact reason for this is not known, but most likely it was to add dignity. In Athens, crowns of gold were often used, but more often the crown was made of tree branches or celery.

The corpse was laid out on a bed with its feet facing the door. The bed was draped with a bier-cloth that had a checkered pattern. A coin was usually placed in the mouth as payment to Charon for ferrying the deceased across the Styx. A linen chin strap was tied around the head or a cushion was placed beneath the head. This was to prevent the jaws from opening. According to Homer, the prothesis could have lasted any number of days, however, in later periods, it lasted for twenty-four hours.

The most important part of the prothesis was the ritual lament. While singing, the persons involved would move around the bier in a pattern resembling a dance. The goos was an improvised lament sung by friends and relatives. Another type of lament called the threnos was sung by professional mourners. The hired singer would lead off the lament followed by the family singing the goos. A chorus of women cried out in accompaniment. In the Pre-Classical period (750-500 B.C.) the entire lament was sung in chorus, while in the Classical period laments called kommoi were sung in turn by principal singers and a chorus.

In the portion of the funeral known as the ekphora, the corpse was brought to the grave by horse-drawn hearse or it was carried by pall-bearers. The pall-bearers were comprised of klimakphoroi (ladder-carriers), mekrophoroi (corpse-carriers), nekrothaptai (corpse-buriers), and tapheis (grave diggers). At one time these pall-bearers were family members, but in later times they were probably hired. Musicians were also hired to provide the music. Men led the procession, and women followed behind. It was customary in some communities to make a sacrifice before the procession started, but this practice was probably abandoned by the Pre-Classical period. The mourners usually did not remain silent while proceeding to the cemetery. They would stop at each street corner and lament in order to attract attention. The women tore at their hair and lacerated their cheeks with their fingernails. In the early days of Christianity, legislation was passed which ordered silence during the ekphora.

Both inhumation and cremation were practiced by the ancient Greeks. When a corpse was cremated, wine was used to extinguish the funeral pyre. A relative gathered the ashes and put them into an urn. Offerings of food and ointments were then made to the dead. These offerings were deposited in the grave or right next to the grave. From the eighth century B.C. through the Classical period, it was common to have an offering trench near the grave. The offerings were set on wooden planks and burned. Remnants of small animals, birds, burnt pottery and shells have been found.

At the conclusion of the burial ceremony, the women were the first to leave so they could go home and prepare a banquet held in honor of the deceased. The men remained behind to finish the preparation of the tomb or grave. When all was done, a stele, very similar to modern gravestones, was placed over the grave.

When a body was interred in a tomb instead of a grave, it may have been one of the following types: a peribolos, which was a family plot; a polyandreion, which was a communal grave; or a heroon which was a monumental tomb built for heroes and VIPs and their families. A heroon was usually composed of several rooms with a courtyard in the center. In the middle of the courtyard was a round section that contained the tomb chamber. Less care was used to bury children than was used for adults. Usually the bodies of children were placed in large, clay pots and then buried.

It was extremely important to family members to visit tombs regularly. Sometimes a childless man would adopt an heir to ensure that someone would visit his grave after he was deceased. Rites were performed at the gravesite on the third, ninth and thirtieth days after death. Visits were then made monthly, annually, and on holidays. On a typical visit, the stele was adorned with colorful ribbons and floral wreaths as well as being annointed with oils. Lekythos vases filled with oil were one of the most popular gifts brought on a visit to the cemetery. On it were painted scenes of people bringing gifts to the grave of a loved one. A feast was laid out at the tomb or gravesite in honor of the deceased. However, it is unknown whether the living ate any of the food or not. Among the food that was used were honey cakes, celery, pomegranates and eggs.

In Pre-Classical times, there is evidence of the ritual slaughter of both animals and humans at gravesites. These blood sacrifices were called haimakouriai. The expression “sphagia entemnein” meaning “cut up the victims” was also used. A sheep or an ox was the animal most often used, and only female or castrated animals were deemed appropriate. The color of the animal was usually black, and it was slaughtered over the offering trench to appease the souls of the dead. Its head was pointed downwards so that the blood would drip down and seep into the earth. The animal was then skinned and burned. These sacrifices were most often made at sunset. In later times, when only animal sacrifices were allowed, human hair was put on the funeral bier as a replacement for an actual human sacrifice.

The pouring of drink offerings known as choai was an important part of the grave rites. Sometimes a feeding tube was inserted into the grave to ensure that the deceased person received the fluid, but most often it was poured over the grave or on the steps leading to the stele. The liquid was made up of honey, milk, water, wine and oil. Sometimes these ingredients were mixed together, and sometimes they were poured individually.