6. Shedding Light on Mortuary Practices in Early Archaic Attica: The Case of the Offering Trenches

Alexandridou, Alexandra

doi:10.1515/9781934078471-009

Cited by 27 publications

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“…The precise permutation of an offering trench dug around a prepared cremation zone and used for the deposition of artifacts and unburnt offerings of horses and human beings has no close parallels in the extra-Pontic Greek world. Although it is also an unicum in Greek mortuary archaeology, the Attic 'Opferrinne' may nevertheless be cited inasmuch as they too were pits constructed on a prepared ground, used for an ostentatious ceremonial destruction of offerings in conjunction with the cremation of the deceased (ALEXANDRIDOU, 2015;KISTLER, 1998;HOUBY-NIELSEN, 1996;HOUBY-NIELSEN, 1992). While the formal characteristics of the pits and ritual particularities of this ceremony differ vastly from those at Istros, both practices were developed by the elites in response to specific circumstances in their respective communities.…”

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Of Human Sacrifice and Barbarity: A Case Study of the Late Archaic Tumulus XVII at Istros

Fowler

2021

HIS

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This article consists of a detailed examination of one of four Late Archaic-era funerary monuments that were excavated in the mid-1950s in the Northern Necropolis of the Pontic Greek settlement of Istros. The exploration of this monument, Tumulus XVII (circa 550-525 BC), revealed several features that were immediately compared to the heroic cremation burials, as described in epic poetry (particularly the funeral of Patroklos in Homer's Iliad). What most attracted attention were the remains of three human victims of sacrifice. Despite the early connection drawn with Homeric epic, for the next three decades Tumulus XVII was classified as a non-Greek (Thracian) monument, principally due to the presence of human sacrifices. In other words, human sacrifice was regarded as primitive and thus foreign to the more 'advanced' Greek culture. For this reason, the evidence from Istros did not have a prominent place in studies related to Greek human sacrifice. However, the growing body of research on Greek and indigenous settlements and cemeteries on the western coast of the Black Sea, along with the more recent discovery of the remains of a bound and decapitated man next to * I wish to thank Erica Angliker and Lorena Lopes for their invitation to contribute to this volume, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their critical comments. This article expands upon a section of my Ph.D.

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Section: The Interpretation Revisitedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Of Human Sacrifice and Barbarity: A Case Study of the Late Archaic Tumulus XVII at Istros

Fowler

2021

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The Typology and Topography of Spartan Burials From the Protogeometric to the Hellenistic Period: Rethinking Spartan Exceptionalism and the Ostensible Cessation of Adult Intramural Burials in the Greek World

Christesen

2018

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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This article makes use of recently published graves to offer the first synthetic analysis of the typology and topography of Spartan burials that is founded on archaeological evidence. Our knowledge of Spartan burial practices has long been based almost entirely on textual sources – excavations conducted in Sparta between 1906 and 1994 uncovered fewer than 20 pre-Roman graves. The absence of pre-Roman cemeteries led scholars to conclude that, as long as the Lycurgan customs were in effect, all burials in Sparta were intracommunal and that few tombs had been found because they had been destroyed by later building activity. Burial practices have, as a result, been seen as one of many ways in which Sparta was an outlier. The aforementioned recently published graves offer a different picture of Spartan burial practices. It is now clear that there was at least one extracommunal cemetery in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. What would normally be described as extramural burials did, therefore, take place, but intracommunal burials of adults continued to be made in Sparta throughout the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. Those burials were concentrated along important roads and on the slopes of hills. The emergent understanding of Spartan burial practices takes on added significance when placed in a wider context. Burial practices in Sparta align closely with those found in Argos and Corinth. Indeed, burial practices in Sparta, rather than being exceptional, are notably similar to those of its most important Peloponnesian neighbours; a key issue is that in all three poleis intracommunal burials continued to take place through the Hellenistic period. The finding that adults were buried both extracommunally and intracommunally in Sparta, Argos and Corinth after the Geometric period calls into question the standard narrative of the development of Greek burial practices in the post-Mycenaean period.

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The Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World, Volume II

Osborne

2023

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This book introduces the history and archaeology of ancient Athens in the period 800–500 bce. Following the standard arrangement of the Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World series, it deals successively with the sources; environmental setting; material culture (settlement pattern, burial customs, ceramic production); political, legal, and diplomatic history; economy and demography; social and religious customs; and cultural history (including history of sculpture) of archaic Athens. It provides not only a full and up-to-date guide to all these various aspects of Athenian history and archaeology, but also an integrated history that shows how the different aspects fit together. The reader is guided through an exciting story of the way in which the territory of Attica was re-occupied after the collapse of Bronze Age civilization; how Athens emerged as the dominant settlement; how the claims of family, place, and wealth were played out against one another; and how the Athenians came to place themselves both in relation to the wider Greek world and in relation to the gods. The account is illustrated with abundant maps and photographs that bring the world of Athens to life and enable the reader to recreate life on the ground. The political and cultural achievements of classical Athens (democracy, tragedy, the Parthenon, and its sculpture) rested upon the foundations created in the archaic period, but this book shows that archaic Athens did not merely provide foundations for what came later, but it offered a fascinating history and culture of its own.

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6. Shedding Light on Mortuary Practices in Early Archaic Attica: The Case of the Offering Trenches

Cited by 27 publications

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Of Human Sacrifice and Barbarity: A Case Study of the Late Archaic Tumulus XVII at Istros

Of Human Sacrifice and Barbarity: A Case Study of the Late Archaic Tumulus XVII at Istros

The Typology and Topography of Spartan Burials From the Protogeometric to the Hellenistic Period: Rethinking Spartan Exceptionalism and the Ostensible Cessation of Adult Intramural Burials in the Greek World

The Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World, Volume II

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