death, attitudes to
death, attitudes toGreek
The Greek attitude towards Hades is best summed up by Achilles, ‘I’d rather be a day-labourer on earth working for a man of little property than lord of all the hosts of the dead' (Odyssey 11. 489–91). The Homeric dead are pathetic in their helplessness, inhabiting draughty, echoing halls, deprived of their wits (phrenes), and flitting purposelessly about uttering batlike noises (Odyssey 24.5 ff.). Athenian lawcourt speeches urge the jury to render assistance to the dead as if they were unable to look after their own interests (e.g. Lysistrata 12.99). The precise relationship between the living body and the psychē (spirit of the dead) is unclear, since the latter is only referred to in connection with the dead. The necessity of conducting burial rites (e.g. Iliad 23.71) and the insult to human dignity if they are omitted (cf. Sophocles Ant....[The entire page is 1373 words long]
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