bayoread:Death and Funeral Rites in Ancient GreeceThe Greeks believed that at the moment of death th

bayoread:Death and Funeral Rites in Ancient GreeceThe Greeks believed that at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. The deceased was then prepared for burial according to the time-honoured rituals. Ancient literary sources emphasize the necessity of a proper burial and refer to the omission of burial rites as an insult to human dignity (Iliad).Relatives of the deceased, primarily women, conducted the elaborate burial rituals that were customarily of three parts: the prothesis (laying out of the body), the ekphora (funeral procession), and the interment of the body or cremated remains of the deceased. After being washed and anointed with oil, the body was dressed and placed on a high bed within the house. During the prothesis, relatives and friends came to mourn and pay their respects. The mouth was sometimes sealed with a token or talisman, referred to as “Charon’s obol” if a coin was used, and explained as payment for the ferryman of the dead to convey the soul from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Lamentations were also used and mainly women would unbind their hair and mourn loudly for the deceased, tearing at their faces and breasts and wearing dirty, ragged clothing.Lamentation of the dead is featured in early Greek art at least as early as the Geometric period, when vases were decorated with scenes portraying the deceased surrounded by mourners. Following the prothesis, the deceased was brought to the cemetery in a procession, the ekphora, which usually took place just before dawn. Very few objects were actually placed in the grave, but monumental earth mounds, rectangular built tombs, and elaborate marble stelai and statues were often erected to mark the grave and to ensure that the deceased would not be forgotten. Immortality lay in the continued remembrance of the dead by the living. From depictions on white-ground lekythoi, we know that the women of Classical Athens made regular visits to the grave with offerings that included small cakes and libations. At the time of the funeral, offerings were made to the deceased by only a relative. The choai, or libation, and the haimacouria, or blood propitiation were two types of offerings. The mourner first dedicated a lock of hair, along with choai, which were libations of honey, milk, water, wine, perfumes, and oils mixed in varying amounts. A prayer then followed these libations. Then came the enagismata, which were offerings to the dead that included milk, honey, water, wine, celery, pelanon (a mixture of meal, honey, and oil) and kollyba (the first fruits of the crops and dried fresh fruits). Once the burial was complete, the house and household objects were thoroughly cleansed with seawater and hyssop, and the women most closely related to the dead took part in the ritual washing in clean water. Afterwards, there was a funeral feast called the perideipnon. The dead man was the host, and this feast was a sign of gratitude towards those who took part in burying him.‘The gods are approached by the pure, in festival attire and with a garland in the hair; the graves are approached by the defiled, without any garland and the hair untied. Burial, and then the cult of the dead and hero cult are all attended by weeping and lamentation, while at a sacrifice to the gods, the euphemia (good-speak)must never be broken by any sound of lamentation.’  - Greek Religion, Walter Burkert. -- source link

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