THE EARLY AGE OF GREECE VOL.I by W.Ridgeway 1901

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and
INHUMATION, CREMATION, AND THE SOUL.
OZo
526 INHUMATION, CREMATION, AND THE SOUL.
cremate the body, therefore cremation is not essential to a
belief in a separate abode for disembodied spirits.
To the
second there is an equally valid objection.
The Achean, the Celt, and the Odin- worshippers of Scandinavia
held that on the burning of the body the soul departed
never more to return to its earthly tabernacle, though, as we
saw, until the burning was accomplished the soul kept flitting
to and fro between the unseen world and its late habitation.
Thus cremation is essential to the happiness of the soul. But
to the Egyptians the thought of destroying the body or even a
portion of it was ab.solutely horrible, for they looked forward to
the revivification of the body, when the perfected soul would
return to its carnal abode and animate it once more. Hence
for several thousand years before our era the Egyptians had
spared no cost or trouble in order that their dead kinsfolk's bodies
might last as long as possible. The various ways of embalming
the dead are familiar to all readers of Herodotus^ and Diodorus".
Even the viscera, which in the most expensive process (costing
a talent of silver) were removed, were medicated sepaiately
and either placed between tlie
and swathed
legs of the mummy
up along with it, or placed in a vase. "The future welfare of
the body in the nether woi-Id depended entirely upon its
having every member complete'." Hence Cambyses (p. 483)
of Amasis burned.
as a final outi'age had the mummy
The Homeric doctrine of the soul is
variance with the Egyptian.
therefore completely at
X(,'ither then does the docti'ine of a separate abode of spirits
lead to the cremation of the body, any more than a nomadic
life.
It is therefore cjeai' that tlie Homei'ic doctrine of the sold
is not 1)oi-rowe(l from Kgypt
: furthermore, as it was found
in t
ujij)er Hurope among he ( "elts and Scandinavians, it ])i'obably
passed from thence into ( Ji'eece but, as it : a])))eai's theri^ with
the .Acheans, it is proiiable that they came from up])ei- iMirope.
As the Aclieans and tlie cremat ionists of upper Kui()))e held
that on the burning of tlie body the soul departed
II. S5.
UiuIk'i'. 'I'll'' Minininj, j).
1H2.
-
I. itl.
to the abode
of spirits never more to return, this at fii'st sight gives strong
support to the theory often plausibly put forward, that the
practice of burning the dead arose from a desire to get rid of
the ghost effectually. But we shall presently produce conclusive
evidence against the validity of this hypothesis.
As the Egyptians embalmed their dead from a distinct
theological belief, we are naturally led to inquire whether other
peculiar methods of disposing of the dead such as cremation are
not as a rule due to a similar cause.
It seems certain that the Egyptian practice of mummifying
the dead after lasting for several thousand years
fell into disuse
in the fourth century a.d. because the old belief gave way to
the Christian doctrine that at the coming of Christ "this
corruptible must put on incorruption," and therefore there was
no need to preserve the body. As Christianity killed embalming
in Egypt, so it put an end to cremation in other parts of the
Roman Empire, where that practice prevailed. For though the
Christians thought it unnecessar\' to embalm the body, since the
soul would receive an incorruptible body at the Resuri-eetion, so
on the other hand were they unwilling to completely destroy
the mortal body that was to put on immortality.
With the rise of Islam cremation received a further blow,
for it is essential for the happiness in the future state of a
Mahommedan that his mortal body
shall suffer no mutilati()n.
Hence Mahonnnedans sometimes light a fire on the bodies of
their slain enemies in order that the latter may not be admitted
to the plonar}' joys of Paradise'. But this doctrine, like so
many others of Islam, is only the embodiment of the custom
of the ancient Arabs, who, like all the other Somites, did not
l)urn, but buried their dead.
In all these cases the treatment of the body after death is
regulated by tiie particular theological tenet.
Thus far we have nh' considered cremation as ])i'actised
in
ancient Europe.
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l'"(r tlic sainc irusnii tlic ( Jlioorkas (wlio j)rc)f(.'ss Hiinluism) i'('^,'ulaily liglit
tiics oil tllr bodies of tlu'ir ^Moslem ciu'inics. Merc execution failed to check
Moslem fanatic-- from nuiniiiK a iiiuck" on the iioitli-west frontier of Iniiia
until our ollicers adopted tlie e.\))edient of liavin^' tlie bodies of sueli malefactors
huriud and tlu^ir ashes sown hroadt"ist.