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• 1 2017-10-13T20:01:35-07:00 Costa- Death and Afterlife 5 plain 2017-10-13T20:58:20-07:00

  Introduction

  The Ancient Greeks believed that after death there was afterlife, this was well established by 6th century B.C. Homer, a famous philosopher of that time wrote a book called the Odyssey, where he described the afterlife being the Underworld. In the Underworld, it was dark, gloomy, miserable and a life of shadows and slavery under the ruling of God Hades, brother of Zeus, and his wife Persephone. The Ancient Greeks had ceremonies and burials for those who died and crossed over to the afterlife. They believed that the moment of death the psyche, spirit of the dead, would leave the body as a puff of wind. Then their bodies would be prepared for burial and rituals. 

  Preparation of the Bodies 

  The ones who prepared the bodies were typically the relatives of the deceased, and mainly women. There are 3 parts that are typically customarily to these burials. The prosthesis, laying out the body, the ekphora, funeral procession, and the cremation of the remains. They washed and oiled first then dressed it and paced it on a high bed within the house. during prosthesis, relatives and friends come to mourn the body and pay their respects. 
  Lamentation of the dead is featured in early Greek art as early as the geometric period.The vases were decorated with scenes portraying the deceased surrounded by mourners.