Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons^™

`Thanatosepoesen' Changing Attitudes In Athenian Mourning: A Study Of Funerary Vase Painting, 900-404 Bc, Heather Quinn Elizabeth Deason

Wayne State University Theses

Literature and archaeological findings have been valuable resources for understanding how the ancient Athenian buried the dead. Grave excavations tell historians a great deal about burial practices. However, so much more can be learned about these practices through the art found in graves. The painted image not only tells us what occurred on the day a person died and his subsequent burial, but it even illustrates the years of mourning which followed for the living. These vessels chronicle the importance people placed on the varying aspects of death and the funeral ritual. From the Geometric period of the tenth century …