Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

174 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
DEATH
The treatment of death and the dead divides us sharply from the
mentality of the Greeks. In the modern industrialized world, most
people die in hospitals. If they happen to have relatives beside them
when they pass away, they may count themselves lucky. As soon as
they have drawn their final breath, the nurse arrives to cover up
the body and pull across the plastic curtains. Most relatives and
friends forego visiting the corpse in the hospital if they have not
been at the bedside earlier. Very few have any physical contact with
the corpse. The hospital authorities then transfer the corpse into
the hands of professional undertakers. In Britain, the deceased will
never be seen again, because open caskets are extremely rare. In the
United States, the deceased, thanks to the fashioning hands of the
undertaker, will reappear in a completely transformed state when
it goes on view in the funeral home.
In the Greek world, death was prevalent among persons of all
age groups, whether as a result of warfare, accident, or illness, or,
in the case of women, as a consequence of giving birth. It was incorporated
into the life of the community to a degree that would strike
many people today as morbid. In modern Greece, too, the business
of the undertaker is not conducted behind heavily shrouded
windows in subdued surroundings but under the full glare of arc
lighting.
Physical Contact with the Dead
Different cultures permit different degrees of contact with their
dead. Some accept the physical aspect of death as a natural and intimate
fact of life. Others are deeply troubled by the idea of a dead
body and regard it as an object to shun. Greek culture evinces both
tendencies, permitting proximity to the corpse by family members
but exercising vigilance in preventing pollution from escaping into
the community.
Because there were no hospitals in ancient Greece, most people
died either at home or on the battlefield. If death occurred at home,
it was the duty of the relatives to prepare the body for burial. Fondling
and kissing the corpse were acceptable and customary practices.
And yet the Greeks were hardly more intimate with their
deceased than their modern counterparts are. Significantly, kêdeia,
the word for funeral, which literally means “a caring for,” is still in
regular use by the Greek Orthodox church.