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Burying rites

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

Burying the deads

Lets now get to Greece and to their ghosts. What were ghosts and what people believed that ghosts were? On the question ancient Greeks had no doubt: They were the spirits of the dead people. It was just this conviction that was at the root of all their funereal rites, very important ceremonies strictly observed from their earliest times. The dead man had to be honored and buried with all the rules, otherwise he would become a malevolent ghost. Apart of this it was necessary to give him a cult that would last through the centuries and do everything possible to make him happy in his new existence so that it could never enter in his mind the idea to come back and terrify everybody, slaves and family. For this it was necessary to procure him a good tomb, lead him there with the due splendour and set him with a rich outfit.
In ancient Greece no dead man or woman went to their last journey in the next world without all the necessary to lead a sumptuous life. As a comfort poor people got in their tomb a few clay pots and some simple food, but the important personages brought with them unbelievable riches. What can we say about the tiaras, the necklaces, the cups and the golden funereal masks that Schlieman found at Troy and at Mycenes? And what about the precious caskets found at Vergina in the tomb of Philip the II of Macedonia, or about the luxurious outfit discovered in the tumulus of Toptepe in Turkey, the one commonly indicated as the “gold of Croesus”?
On the other side, also if with the passing of time the funereal outfits had been reshaped and the Mycenean gold became the clay dolls of the Ceramicon, a dignified tomb, a correct burying ritual and the continuous care of their graves assured the survivors of peaceful nights and kept away the dead people spirits. As long as they were satisfied and serene the dead people had no reason to come back and torment their living relatives. Of course if the family neglected them, their monumental tumuli, the jewels and the rich outfit could not be enough for them. Then it was better to tribute to the ancestors a continuous cult.
In Greece this task was delegated to the women of the family and they regularly went to visit the tombs. We see them in Greek ceramic while they are nearing the stelae which marked their relatives burial places and bring with them offers of wine and perfumes.
Habitually the lady had with her a maid who brought a large basket full of ribbons to decorate the tomb. Beside the stele the ceramist often represented the dead person’s ghost, some time an young man and some time a child who, silent and sad, looked at them.
Especially heartrending is a scene we see on a white “lekytos” ascribed to the painter of Thanatos. On the vase we see a young woman who, followed by an African maid, nears a high stele set on a base of steps: It is the tomb of her little child, one who died at an early age. The two women stay beside the tomb while the little ghost is seated on the top of the burial stone and sadly looks at the negro woman, evidently his nanny, the loved companion of all his games. The chasm of eternity divides them and as little as he is the phantom knows that he will never more be able to laugh and joke with her. In his eyes one can read an immense sadness, but the woman doesn’t see it. Of course her heart is heavy with pain while, bringing on her head the basket full of all the decorations that she has brought there and holding in her hand a phial of perfume, she nears the tomb. The best things for the beloved child, but she doesn’t see him and she will never see him again. Now the only things that she can do for him is decorate the tomb and pour perfume and tears on it.