| The ancient Greek notion of the afterlife and the rituals | | | | the burial sites with gifts that included little cakes and |
| accompanying burials were previously well instituted by | | | | liquid offerings. |
| the 6th century B.C. In the Odyssey, Homer depicts the | | | | The most sumptuous burial mausoleums were built in |
| Underworld, deep below the earth, where Hades, the | | | | the 6th century B.C. by upper-class kindreds of Attica |
| brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and his spouse, | | | | in exclusive funeral land along the roadside on the |
| Persephone, ruled over a myriad of wandering legions | | | | relatives land or approaching Athens. Relief carvings, |
| of gloomy figures known as the 'shades' which were | | | | figures, and tall stelai enthroned by finials identified |
| all those who had previously perished. It was not a | | | | many of these burial places. Each funerary mausoleum |
| joyful locality, and indeed, the soul of the great warrior | | | | had an engraved foundation with an epitaph, frequently |
| Achilles informed Odysseus that he would might as | | | | in poetry that memorialized the deceased. A relief |
| well be a miserable helot on Earth than lord of all the | | | | illustrating a generalised impression of the departed |
| departed in the The land of the dead. | | | | occasionally summoned up characteristics of the |
| The Greeks conceived that at this point of death the | | | | individual's existence, with the inclusion of a minion, |
| soul, or ghost of the deceased, was released from the | | | | belongings, and animals. On ancient reliefs, it is simple to |
| body as a brief puff of wind. The deceased was then | | | | recognise the deceased individual nevertheless, |
| readied for interment conforming to the time honoured | | | | throughout the 4th century B.C., further family |
| practices. Ancient scholarly authorities insist on the | | | | associates were attached to the scenes and generally |
| need of a correct funeral and refer to the exclusion of | | | | many names were etched into the tribute, making it |
| burial ceremonies as an defamation to human nobility. | | | | hard to differentiate the deceased from the grievers. |
| Families of the dead, principally women, administered | | | | Like all aged marble carving, funerary figures and burial |
| the elaborate funeral traditions that were traditionally | | | | stelai were brightly coloured, and comprehensive |
| made up of three sections. These were the placing of | | | | remains of scarlet, dark, cobalt, and green colouring |
| the body, the burial march, and the burying of the | | | | can nevertheless be viewed. |
| individual or cremated ashes of the deceased. | | | | Many of the best Attic burial memorials endured in a |
| Following being cleaned and daubed with oil, the | | | | burial place positioned in the outlying Kerameikos area |
| individual was clothed and positioned on a high bed | | | | situated on the edge of Athens barely outside the |
| inside the dwelling. Throughout the placing of the body, | | | | gateways of the old city barrier. The burial ground was |
| relations and friends drew near to grieve and provide | | | | being used for centuries and awe-inspiring Geometrical |
| their respects. Lamentation of the deceased is | | | | craters marked burial mounds of the 8th century B.C., |
| highlighted in aged Greek paintings at least as ancient | | | | in addition to excavations which have exposed a |
| as the Geometric era, when vases were adorned with | | | | obvious structure of graves from the Traditional era. |
| areas illustrating the departed surrounded by grievers. | | | | At the demise of the 5th century B.C., Athenian |
| The final stage of the process was to bring the | | | | households started to inter their deceased in modest |
| deceased to the burial ground in a procession, the | | | | stone sarcophagi positioned in the ground inside grave |
| ekphora, which commonly took place almost ahead of | | | | areas coordinated in manufactured terraces supported |
| dawn and a handful of objects were deposited into | | | | by a tall retaining barriers. Marble cenotaphs belonging |
| the grave, but imposing earth stacks, orthogonal | | | | to various associates of a relatives were positioned |
| constructed crypts, and elaborate marble stelai and | | | | alongside the edge of the terrace rather than over the |
| carvings were frequently formed to indicate the grave | | | | tombs themselves. |
| and to safeguard that the deceased would always be | | | | As we can see the Greeks believed a significant |
| remembered. Eternal life lay in the lasting recollection of | | | | amount about the afterlife and paid great attention to |
| the deceased by the living and from representations | | | | trusted traditions when burying their loved ones and did |
| on white ground lekythoi, we understand that the | | | | not deviate from this for many years. |
| women of Traditional Athens made habitual visits to | | | | |