How did the ancient Greeks view funerals?

The ancient Greeks were a model of culture and tradition two thousand years ago. There are many similarities in many aspects of Greek life with our own lives. Nothing shows the grace of the dead more clearly than the Greeks’ reverence and burial rituals for the dead.

Greeks often said that funerals are "conventional," "appropriate," or "correct." The laws of Athens stipulate that anyone who accidentally finds a body must at least cover it with soil. Even if a Greek hates his compatriots very much when he is alive, when death intervenes, all memories of old feuds are traditionally thrown aside, and all respect is shown to the deceased.

The prevailing opinion in Greece strongly despises anyone who lacks respect for the dead. The famous scholar Socrates once called on the Athenians to oppose the Thebes on behalf of the Platonians. He said: “It is not the same misfortune for the dead to be refused burial and the living to be deprived of their country, because the former is against those who prohibit funeral ceremonies. People are more shameful than those who have suffered inhumane treatment."

In any case, leaving a dead body without a suitable destination is regarded as a moral sin; a person who neglects to bury his parents, relatives or close friends will be regarded as an outcast and unsuitable for other people in the community. live together. Even in some cases, the act of ignoring the deceased is considered a deprivation of public office. A Greek named Philon was selected as a senator by lottery because his mother was worried that he would not attend her funeral at the end of the day, leaving money and funeral instructions to a complete stranger, so he was selected. Think unworthy as a senator.

Greece’s laws on burial obligations are very strict, but there are some extreme cases where burials are prohibited. In the case of the most severe criminal punishment, the offender may not be buried. In Athens and Sparta, such corpses were thrown into a pit in a designated area of the city, where their meat might rot or be eaten by carrion birds. Sparta also has a pit or underground cave called Caeadas, where the bodies of the most serious criminals are discarded.

The suicide was allowed to be buried, but the murderer's hand was chopped off and buried separately from the body. A modern scholar attributed this treatment to the Greeks’ fear that the corpse might become a vampire; but another study showed that “evil” hands are considered incompatible with the human body. As another punishment for suicides, Plato suggested that they be buried in a place without any honor, separated from the other dead, buried in an uncultivated and unknown area, and their cemetery has no marks or names.

Another peculiar Greek funeral tradition is to die by lightning. Those killed by lightning were refused to be buried, or at least refused to be buried with others. Greek documents explain that the ancients believed that anyone killed in this way was killed by God, because he knew some crimes that were invisible to mortals.