Hannah Henick
5/21/13
Ms. Morin- Ancient World
Legacy Project
Death
Within every culture we realize that there is special attention given to death
and those activities surrounding it. Some of man’s earliest records in history deal
with death, the taboos concerning it, and the respect given to those who have passed
on. Death beliefs and superstitions within Ancient Greece are an interesting subject
to discuss, the Greeks were an avidly religious people and as such they formulated
specific ideas about the concept of the human soul, an afterlife, and certain respects
and/or taboos to be regarded concerning the dead. Death was part of everyone's
experience in ancient Greece. Many children died young; men died in battle and
many women died in childbirth. The ancient Greeks cremated or buried their dead
and often placed objects in the grave or made offerings to comfort the dead person.
The underworld was a sad and gloomy place where the dead lived as shadows. The
Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl shows the culture of Death in
Ancient Greece through its immortalization of the deceased, its historical
significance, and moreover its ideals of death itself.
The piece itself was made during the archaic period in about 530 B.C. It was
made and found in Attica Greece and is a stone sculpture. The medium the artist
chose to use for this particular piece is marble. The total height is 166 inches. Since
the stele was found in pieces multiple donors gave the pieces to the MET. The
Frederick C. Hewitt Fund gave the first pieces in 1911, the Rogers Fund gave more
pieces in 1921, and finally with the help of an anonymous donor in 1951 the statue
was able to be completed.
The grave marker from the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows the culture of
Death through its immortalization of the deceased. On the statue itself there is an
image of a young man and his little sister. The boy is holding a pomegranate and an
aryballos (oil flask) is suspended from his wrist. The girl carries a flower and is
much shorter than he his, she is believed to be a younger sibling. The height
difference could mean a multitude of things, from stature in society to gender roles,
but is believed to show the age difference between the siblings. The boy is also
carrying a pomegranate —a fruit associated with both fecundity and death in Greek
myths—perhaps indicating that he had reached puberty before his death. It could
also possibly indicate his transition into the underworld from life since the
pomegranate is the fruit of the underworld. Like most people the ancient Greeks
wanted to be commemorated in their best light. An example of this is the young man
being carved in the archaic idealistic style. He has a chiseled abdomen and strong
upper arms. The MET describes him as, “The youth on the shaft is shown as an
athlete”1 His arms are straight and rigid and his left leg is slightly in front of the
right, showing not only the common posture of the day but also strength and power.
The Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl shows the culture
of Death in Ancient Greece through its historical significance. Burial in Ancient
“Description of Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl” The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, accessed 5/21/13
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-thecollections/130008976
1
Greek society was a large process. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says, “Relatives
of the deceased, primarily women, conducted the elaborate burial rituals that were
customarily of three parts: the prosthesis (laying out of the body,
the ekphora (funeral procession), and the interment of the body or cremated
remains of the deceased.”2 Most families had mounds or tombs for their loved ones
but few had the money to build large beautiful statues. As with funerals in most
civilizations, funerals in Ancient Greece were a time when the family of the deceased
could display their wealth and ties while still honoring the dead. It was as much a
social event as a farewell to loved ones. The MET says, “The most lavish funerary
monuments were erected in the sixth century B.C. by aristocratic families of Attica
in private burial grounds along the roadside on the family estate or near Athens.”3
They were placed there so they would never be forgotten.
The monument stands thirteen feet tall and had to be very expensive. Few
people in Attica at that time would have the money to pay for a statue of that quality,
this led to scholars restoring the name of the youth on the pillar. Most believe that
the name is Megakles. Megakles is a name associated with the powerful clan of the
Alkmeonidai, who opposed the tyrant Peisistratos during most of the second half of
the sixth century B.C. Peisistratus, was a tyrant of ancient Athens who unified Attica
and led rapid improvement of Athens. However, the encyclopedia Britannica says,
“The reorganization of the constitution had not eliminated bitter aristocratic
contentions for control of the archonship, the chief executive post. As Peisistratus
“Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece” The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, accessed 5/21/13
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dbag/hd_dbag.htm
3 “Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece”
2
reached manhood, the two major vying factions were called the Plain, led
by Lycurgus, and the Coast, led by Megakles”4 He ruled for a short time but was soon
exiled by the combined forces of the aristocrats. At one point he even married the
daughter of Megakles in an attempt to gain popularity. In 546 Peisistratus invaded
Attica, he was able to overcome the army and take over Athens. Since the grave
marker is believed to be that of Megakles or his son the marker may have been
destroyed by sympathizers of Peisistratos. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says,
“The tombs of aristocratic families were sometimes desecrated and destroyed as a
result of that conflict, and this stele may well have been among them.” 5
The underworld in Greek Culture was dark and gloomy, full of souls that would
never live their dreams. The river Styx was said to hold the remnants of what the
ghosts had wanted to do during life, they would drop it off the side of the boat on the
way to the gates of hell. Even the ghost of the great hero Achilles told Odysseus that
he “would rather be a poor serf on earth than lord of all the dead in the
Underworld”6 Families felt the need to honor the dead while they were being
heaped together in grey clumps of souls made to wander the Asphodel fields.
Pericles’ Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War shows that the dead
do not have to be honored through a monument. Pericles’ speech is so emotionally
provocative that he is able to honor the fallen and rally the survivors in a short
“Peisistratus” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed May 21, 2013
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/448916/Peisistratus
5 “Description of Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl” The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, accessed 5/21/13
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-thecollections/130008976
6 Homer, Odyssey, Penguin Classics: 2006
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speech. He gives thanks to their ancestors as well as the recently deceased without
depressing the listeners. He says, “And yet if with habits not of labor but of ease, and
courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter danger, we have
the double advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of
facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from
them.”7 He says that even though they don’t need to be Athenians are brave and
powerful. He is building up the dead and the living until they can raise themselves.
He also says, “I have dealt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you
that we are contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these
privileges, and to establish by manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am
now commemorating. The loftiest praise has been already spoken. For in magnifying
the city I have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues made her
glorious."8 Athenians are powerful and those who give their lives for their city
deserve the highest of praise. He was able to commemorate those soldiers with
words not things. People today still read Pericles’ funeral speech and still look at the
stele. They are equally poignant.
Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition: The First Civilizations and the Classical
Legacy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011
8 Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition: The First Civilizations and the Classical
Legacy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011, pg. 89
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