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Death in Ancient Greek Culture

Zoe Lowe

The Underworld

The

Underworld in Greek Myth

The Underworld is the land ruled by Hades to which all souls go after death in Greek mythology.

To understand the rituals and beliefs surrounding death in ancient Greek cultures, one must first understand the myths about death.

Deities

Deities of the Underworld

As described in Homer's Odyssey, the Underworld is ruled by Hades and his wife Persephone. Souls of the dead are lead into the Underworld by the guide Charon. Guarding the entrance to the Underworld is the multi-headed, snake-like dog creature called Cerberus. Cerberus is depicted in the Athenian tragedy Herakles written by Euripides. After entering the Underworld, the three judges Rhadamanthys, Minos and Aeacus determine where the souls will go, as there are multiple realms for the dead. These judges of the dead are described in detail in Plato's dialogue Gorgias, in which he explains that " those who come from Asia shall Rhadamanthys try, and those from Europe, Aeacus; and to Minos I will give the privilege of the final decision, if the other two be in any doubt" (Plato, 523a).

Persephone and Hades

Colossal Krater from Altamura, about 350 B.C., Greek.

Geography of the Underworld

Geography of the Underworld

The layout of the Underworld has been described in The Iliad, The Odyssey, the story of Theseus, and many other well-known ancient Greek myths.

Most of these stories were told through oral traditions, and it is therefore difficult to find the original source of these tales. There's also various versions of these stories from various myths.

The geography of the Underworld in these myths is similar, though, usually consisting of five rivers and three to four realms which souls could go to.

Rivers

Upon entering the Underworld, souls of the dead are led down the river Styx by Charon, the ferryman. Notably, the River Styx now has a reputation of providing whoever swims in it with strength, thanks to the myth of Achilles heel. While the Styx is well known, there are four other rivers running through the Underworld. These are as follows:

The Acheron, the river of sorrow and pain; Greek poet Nonnus describes the Acheron in the Dionysiaca, saying "You will have river-water enough when you drink the fatal water of Acheron. Your belly swells already with the bitter water of a murdering stream."

The Cocytus (Kokytos), the river of lamentation and wailing. Plato describes this river in his dialogue Phaedo, saying that aftersinner have been in Tartarus for a year, a "wave casts them out, the homicides by way of Kokytos, those who have outraged their parents by way of Phlegethon."

The Phlegethon, the river of fire which connects to Tartarus, as aforementioned by Plato.

The Lethe, the river of oblivion, which Statius implies as bordering Elysium, saying "In the secluded grassy meads of Lethe, among gatherings of heroes and spirits of the blest."

Charon as depicted by Alexander Litovchenko, 1889.

Realms

Tartarus is first described in Hesiod's Theogony, in which Zeus and the Olympians throw the Titans into the vast pit. According to Hesiod's description, "the distance from earth to gloomy Tartarus is as great as that of heaven from earth." This is where the Titans reside and where many creatures who wrong the Olympians go, including the cyclopses and Hekatonkheires.

Another land of the dead is the Mourning Fields, as mentioned by Virgil in the Aeneid. He says that this land is inhabited by those "whom ruthless love did waste away."

The Fields of Asphodel could be viewed as the Greek version of the Christian idea of Purgatory. Here lie all the souls who didn't achieve greatness but weren't sinners either. The fields are metioned briefly in the Odyssey, described as a place where "spirits dwell, phantoms of men done with toils."

Elysium is the realm of the Underworld reserved for great heroes and demi-gods, which also encompasses the Isle of the Blessed. In Hesiod's Works and Days poem, he described inhabitants of Elysium living "free of sorrow" and mentions that "Kronos rules over them; for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds."

Treatment of the Dead

Treatment of the

Dead

As in modern times, people of ancient Greece had funerary customs and superstitions about the deceased. These rites and beliefs are, most notably, the placement of Charon's obol and funeral processions similar to modern Western funerary customs.

Funerary Processions Overviews

Funerary Customs

Ancient Greek funeral rites were very similar to those of the modern Western world. As described in Ancient Greece: A New History, Greek funerals were hosted in multiple parts. The first was the ekphora, a "procession that escorted the body from the home to the burial." The second was the "prothesis," in which the corpse is laid out for family members to "stand, kneel and engage in lamentations" around.

Below is a video from the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens which showcases the funerary processions of Athenians who cremated their deceased.

Athenian Funeral Processions

Funeral Processions

Burial of bodies was important to the Greeks in order to respect the dead. In the Iliad, it's said that to not bury a body is to insult human dignity. Following the prothesis, in which women would often anoint the body with oil, commemorative feasts may be thrown to celebrate the dead. In the Bronze Age, group tombs were the most popular choice. Post-Bronze Age Greeks, however, started to bury their dead individually. In the case of well- respected people, terra-cotta vases were used to mark graves. These often depicted the funerary processions held.

Funeral Processions

Superstitions

Charon's Obol

In Aristophane's comedy play titled Frogs, performed in 405 BC, Dionysus is required to pay a toll for Charon to bring him to the Underworld, called Charon's obol. The inclusion of this particular susperstition in such a popular play means it likely played a role in Greek society. Obols were often placed in the mouth of the dead as a fee to Charon for escorting their souls to the Underworld. To the right is a photo of a Roman skull discovered with an obol in it's mouth.

Causes of Death in Ancient Greece

Causes of Death

When analyzing ancient history, it can be expected that the mortality rates and causes of death of our ancestors differ from our own. Understandings of medicine and technological developments have generally increased the life span of people in the modern Western world. It's been estimated that ancient Greeks lived as long as 70 years, while classical age Greeks (4th-5th century) had an average lifespan of only 35!

Plague of Athens

A plague struck the city-state of Athens in the second year of the Peloponnesian War, around 430 BC, and continued for 4 years. Thucydides described the symptoms of the plague as such:

"Violent heats in the head; redness and inflammation of the eyes; throat and tongue quickly suffused with blood; ... sneezing and hoarseness; retching; violent convulsions; ... breaking out in pustules and ulcers." D.L. Page later concluded that this was likely a form of measles. It's been estimated that in its time in Athens, the disease killed at least 1/3 of the population.

Recreation of a young girl, Myrtis, who died of the Athenian Plague

Myrtis

Common Causes

Causes of death in ancient Greece are difficult to pinpoint due to a lack of medical journals at the time. Some are a given, such as venereal diseases, while others are a bit more ridiculous to modern day people.

Some of the most common communicable diseases were gonorrhea (from the Greek words "seed" and "flow") and syphilis. The symptoms of Syphilis were well recorded by Hippocrates. Hippocrates also describes cancer, coining the terms "carcinos" and "carcinoma." Asthma was also described in ancient Greek writings; in Homer's Iliad, Hector is "gripped by difficult asthma, vomiting up blood."

Common Causes

Weird Causes of Death

Weird Causes

Along with the expected diseases of the ancient world, there a many stories of ridiculous, and some downright gross, causes of death.

Greek philosopher Chrysippus allegedly died from laughing too hard- at his own joke. Unfortunately, this laughable death was likely actually due to alcohol poisoning.

Another laughable death is that of Heraclitus, who is described as having dropsy and who "buried himself in a cowshed," effectively drowing himself in manure.

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