Premium Only Content

The Age of Pericles | Death and Burial (Lecture 12)
Lecture 12: Close to the agora of Athens lies the Ceramicus cemetery, where both private and public burials took place. In this lecture, we will examine not only attitudes toward death but also the practices associated with commemorating the dead. At the Ceramicus, more and more elaborate funerary sculptures were erected to memorialize the dead. Special attention was given to the young, in particular men who had died in battle on behalf of Athens. Eventually, the monuments grew so grand that the Athenians passed legislation limiting the amount of money that could be spent on funerary markers. Before the age of Pericles, burials had been marked by huge amphorae half buried in the ground. On them, we see scenes of the prothesis, or laying out of the body, and the ekphora, or funeral procession, in which the dead person was taken from the house to the burial ground. The expense of these ceremonies, as well as the graves themselves, testified to the status of the dead person’s family. Death itself was regarded as a gloomy affair. Descriptions of the underworld make it sound dreary, and as in many cultures, the Athenians took pains to placate the spirits of the dead, afraid that otherwise, they might be haunted by them.
Suggested Reading:
Garland, R. The Greek Way of Death. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985.
Antonaccio, C. An Archaeology of Ancestors. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1994.
Lecture 13: https://rumble.com/v5ej478-the-age-of-pericles-aeschylus-and-early-tragedy-lecture-13.html
-
30:05
The Great Courses
2 months agoDecisive Battles of World History | 1942 Stalingrad - Hitler's Ambitions Crushed (Lecture 35)
199 -
32:25
Tudor Dixon
1 hour agoKarol Markowicz on Freedom, Immigration, and Saving the American Dream | The Tudor Dixon Podcast
6.77K -
2:03:25
The Quartering
5 hours agoFlag Burning, Free Speech, Church Attack & More With Andrew Wilson
203K301 -
3:02:42
The Robert Scott Bell Show
20 hours agoDr. Peter McCullough, Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality, Dr. Dan Sullivan, Chiropractic - The RSB Show 8-27-25
27.9K -
1:21:03
Darkhorse Podcast
5 hours agoFreedom, Tyranny, and Childhood Lost: The 291st Evolutionary Lens w/ Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying
41.6K17 -
LIVE
LFA TV
12 hours agoLFA TV ALL DAY STREAM - WEDNESDAY 8/27/25
1,241 watching -
2:34:01
Steven Crowder
5 hours agoBREAKING: Minnesota Catholic School Shooting Update - Shooter & Manifesto
358K505 -
42:22
Stephen Gardner
2 hours ago🚨CHICAGO Mayor PISSED as Residents BEG Trump to send National Guard
29K9 -
1:17:28
The HotSeat
3 hours agoChristian School Shooting in Minnesota – Faith Under Fire & Prophecy Being Fulfilled
19.1K20 -
1:39:25
Film Threat
18 hours agoPEACEMAKER BLOWS GUNN'S DC! PLUS ALIEN: EARTH AND DEXTER RESURRECTION | Hollywood on the Rocks
11.5K