Death in Ancient Greece

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• Death in Ancient Greece
• CLAS-E 128 Death and the Afterlife in the
  Ancient World
• Harvard Extension School
• Fall 2007

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The Odyssey, Bk 11 Whats familiar? Whats
unfamiliar?
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So-called Memnon pieta Eos lifting up the body
of her son Memnon. Kalos inscription. Interior
from an Attic red-figure cup, ca. 490?480 BC.
From Capua, Italy.
The heroic death
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Prothesis scene. Attic black-figure pinax
(plaque), ca. 560-550 BC. Found in Athens. Musée
du Louvre, Paris.
Stages of the Greek Funeral The Prothesis
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Funerary plaque, ca. 520?510 B.C. Archaic,
black-figure Greek, Attic Terracotta H. 10 1/4
in. (26.04 cm) Rogers Fund, 1954 (54.11.5).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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Krater, second half of 8th century B.C.
Geometric Greek, Attic Attributed to the
Hirschfeld Workshop Terracotta H. 42 5/8 in.
(108.25 cm) Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.130.14).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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Prothesis scene exposure of the dead and
mourning. Detail from a krater, ca. 750 BC (Late
Geometric). From the Dipylon Cemetery in
Athens. Now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
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Mourner tearing her hair, detail. Neck from an
Attic red-figured loutrophoros, ca. 500-490 BC.
Musée du Louvre, Paris..
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Mourning woman. Terracotta, made in Boeotia, ca.
300-275 BC. British Museum, London.
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Stages of the Greek Funeral

1. Prothesis
2. Ekphora
3. Cremation
4. Libations, sacrifice at grave
5. Establishing a grave site
6. Visits to the grave

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Grave stele of a youth and a little girl, ca. 530
B.C. Archaic Greek, AtticParian marble H. 166
11/16 in. (4.233 m)Inscribed on the base to
dear Megakles, on his death, his father with
his dear mother set me up as a
monumentFrederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1911Rogers
Fund, 1921Anonymous Gift, 1951 (11.185a-c,f,g).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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The grave shrine of Aristonutes funerary
monument. Deceased hoplite. Athens 310 BC. Now in
the Archaeological Museum of Athens.
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• Tiny bowls, typical of funerary materials.
  Attica, 7th century BC Staatliche
  Antikensammlungen, Munich.

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Woman decking a gravestone with garlands. Attic
white-ground lekythos, ca. 420-410 BC. British
Museum, London.
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Visit to a tomb. Detail from an Attic
white-ground lekythos, ca. 400 BC. British
Museum, London.
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Woman before a grave. Attic red-figured
white-ground lekythos, ca. 420 BC. From Piraeus.
Now at the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
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Lekythos (oil flask), ca. 450 B.C.
white-groundAttributed to the Sabouroff
PainterGreek, AtticTerracotta H. 12 7/16 in.
(31.6 cm)Rogers Fund, 1921 (21.88.17)Metropolita
n Museum of Art, New York
The Greek Afterlife
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Orphic lamella from Thurii, 4th cen. BCE
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Lekythos from the tomb of a woman. She is
represented holding the hand of her husband.
Attica, ca. 375 BC. Glyptotek, Munich
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Attic white-ground red-figured lekythos, late 5th
century BC.Musée du Petit Palais, Paris.
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Attic grave marker. Athens Archaeological Museum,
Athens.
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Grave stele of a little girl, ca.
450-440B.C.Greek. Parian marble H. 31 1/2 in.
(30.01 cm)Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.45)Metropolita
n Museum of Art, New York
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Funerary stele from Nicomedia (modern Izmit) in
Bithynia, white marble, ca. 120 BC. The
inscription reads Thrason, son of Diogenes,
erected this funerary stele for his two sons,
Dexiphanes, age 5, and Thrason, age 4, and for
Hermes, age 25, who brought them up. In the
earthquake collapse, so did he hold them in his
arms. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
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Funerary stele of Plangon. Athens, ca. 310 BC.
Glyptotek, Munich.
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Funerary stele from Nicomedia (modern Izmit) in
Bithynia, white marble, ca. 150-100 BC. Musée du
Louvre, Paris.
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Seated woman leaving her newborn child to the a
nurse, funerary stele. Marble, made in Athens,
ca. 425-400 BC. From Athens. Now in the British
Museum, London.
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Funerary relief of a young man. Attica (?), ca.
360 BC. Glyptotek, Munich.
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Funerary stele of Xenokrateia, daugther of
Eukleides of Oie in Attika (according to
inscription). Ca. 350 BC. Glyptotek, Munich.
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Tombstone of the shoemaker Xanthippos. Marble,
Greek artwork, ca. 430-420 BC. From Athens.
British Museum, London.
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Funerary stele bearing the inscription Thalea,
daughter of Athenagoras, from the city of
Oroanna, hail!. Found in Smyrna (now Izmir,
Turkey). Marble, ca. 150 BCE, Hellenistic work.
Musée du Louvre, Paris.