Death: Antiquity and its Legacy

by Mario Erasmo

Personal and yet utterly universal, inevitable and yet unknowable, death has been a dominant theme in all cultures, since earliest times. Different societies address death and the act of dying in culturally diverse ways; yet, remarkably, across the span of several millennia, we can recognize in the customs of ancient Greece and Rome ceremonies and rituals that have enduring present-day resonance. For example, preparing the corpse of the deceased, holding a memorial service, the practice of cremation and of burial in 'resting places' are all liminal processes that can trace their origin to ancient practices. Such rites - described by Cicero and Herodotus, among others - have defined traditional modern funerals. Yet of late there has been a shift away from classical ritual and sombre memorialization as the dead are transformed into spectacles. Ad hoc roadside shrines, 'virtual' burials, online guest-books and even jazz memorial processions and firework displays have come to the fore as new modes of marking, even celebrating, bereavement. What is causing this change, and how do urbanisation, economic factors and the rise of individualism play a part?Mario Erasmo creatively explores the nexus between classical and contemporary approaches to dying, death and interment. From theme funerals in St Louis to Etruscan sarcophagi, he offers a rich and insightful discussion of finitude across the ages.

Genres: History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book's “focus is on death, disposal, and commemoration, rather than dying, across temporal, geographic and cultural lines . . . from antiquity to the present” (xii). By “antiquity” the author refers primarily to Greek and, especially, Roman traditions. The historical currents followed generally flow to the West, all the way to the contemporary United States, scant attention being paid to Eastern fashions, at least as much attention being paid to modern practices as is paid to their antecedents.
There is no discernible thesis, no argument, to this book. Its focus is so diffused, both geographically and temporally, that readers will leave it without clear sense of what typified either Greek or Roman practices as regards death during any particular period. Instead it is just a virtually haphazard listing of instances organized under the broad rubrics of “Funerals”, “Disposal”, “Location and Commemoration” and “Cult of the Dead”. It is, in other words, an unregulated phenomenology of examples.
Phenomenology has its place as a precursor to science, but it should be weighted. Given an adequate sample, one might, for instance, note the relative incidence of one type of tomb over another during a given period or over time. Something like this was done when nineteenth century scholars inventoried and published classical grave markers. Other than dimensional and design characteristics, attention was given the contents of their inscriptions with a mind to understanding ancient beliefs regarding the state of the dead. From thousands of instances propositions were adduced, one being the apparent popular influence of Epicurean philosophy and its relieved denial of an afterlife. Erasmo makes no use of such thorough inventories, barely addresses beliefs as regards the afterlife. Instead he just skips about, without apparent guiding principles, from text to text, tomb to tomb like a unprepared tourist.
This text might have worked within the format of a lavishly illustrated coffee table book. But, while illustrated, it is nowhere near to being illustrated enough to serve as some kind of art book. A handful of black and white pictures of tombs must suffice for a briefly—and boringly—descriptive listing of dozens. Unless and until reissued as a picture book with text I can see neither rhyme nor reason to acquire it.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been to more than my share of funerals over the last 12 years. I had a large extended family filled with aunts, uncles, numrous great aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. Now about 8 of them have passed away in the last 10 years. The rituals of death, which I never thougth about: The viewing,the funeral home with its imitation living rooms, the service, the family service at the grave side, the machine for lowering the casket into the grave...covered in a blanket of astro turf to hide its metallic frame...the grave stones of family members..pink granite..black granite...

This book does a whirlwind tour of ancient practices, their variety and the permutations that modernity has crafted from ancient precidence. The book would have benefitted from more pictures - have google close at hand. If you can find it cheap, its worth a look.

[Marshall St. Amant]

Overall, a thought provoking read. I will admit bias because I am a student of Dr. Erasmo but I truly do believe that this book prompts further reading and research into the ongoing social relationship that the living maintain with the dead and the shifting of the death on the periphery of society. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a foothold on death tradition and rituals in a broader context.

[Jessie B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at burial customs from antiquity to the contemporary. Rather than looking at the subject chronologically , it instead discusses similarities across cultures in a way that highlights similarities and differences, and shows how some practices that seem ancient continue only slightly altered in the present.

[Mills College Library]

393 E652 2012