Evidence from burial practices

Burial customs and the cult of the dead provide some of our earliest evidence of human culture and in Greek and Roman times this evidence comes from archaeology as much as from written evidence. Burial practices and rituals in Greece and Rome are described in further detail elsewhere in the course. Our concern here is to determine what these practices and the treatment of the dead can tell us of the Greek and Roman views of life beyond the grave.

The ancients were highly superstitious and their religion polytheistic with a wide range of gods and spirits. It would therefore not be surprising if beliefs in an afterlife and in ghosts of the dead were prevalent and indeed this was certainly so, with some notable exceptions especially among philosophers and thinkers.

Death commands a feeling of awe by the very mystery which surrounds it and arouses many emotions in those affected by it. Some of its accompaniments are found in all periods and serve important functions. A public display of mourning and a ritual meal enable the heirs to the dead person to mask their feelings, be they release from a burden, grief or whatever other personal consequences and emotions follow on the death. Usually the burial rite itself serves to reinforce family identity, as does the setting up of an inscribed gravestone.