Abstract
In this chapter, the author compares mourners’ gestures and behaviors in ancient Greece and ancient China. The gestures and behaviors of mourners form important aspects of ritualized mourning. We can find a series of ritualized actions for mourners in ancient Greece. There were no specific requirements for mourners’ gestures in ancient China. ‘Beating the breast and stamping the feet’ (捶胸顿足) were expressions of the greatest pain for the Chinese.
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- 1.
The translation is from A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt, Harvard University Press, 1999.
- 2.
The translation is from David Kovacs, Harvard University Press, 1998.
- 3.
Boardman said, ‘The scene of prothesis which appears on all of them enjoyed a long history in Greek art from geometric times to the end of the fifth century, while the funerary plaques cover less than half that span, from about 600 to 480 B.C. The representations are nearly all on Attic pottery—geometric, black- and red-figure funerary vases , the plaques, and other vases, some of which are particularly associated with funeral ritual and served as offerings to the dead.’ See John Boardman, ‘Painted Funerary Plaques and Some Remarks on Prothesis’, in The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 50 (1955), pp. 51–66.
- 4.
D.C. Kurtz presents an excellent overview of funerary iconography, cf. ‘Vases for the Dead: An Attic Selection, 750–400 B.C.’, in H.A.G. Brijder ed., Ancient Greek and Related Pottery, Amsterdam, 1985, pp. 314–328.
- 5.
For the difference between men and women’s gestures, see T. J. McNiven, ‘Behaving Like an Other: Telltale Gestures in Athenian Vase-Painting’, in B. Cohen ed., Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art, Leiden, 2000, pp. 71–97.
- 6.
H. A. Shapiro, ‘The Iconography of Mourning in Athenian Art’, in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 95, No. 4 (Oct., 1991), pp. 629–656, fig. 9.
- 7.
Ahlberg considers that the two-handed gesture is ‘the traditional formula of lamentation in Geometric art’. See Gudrun Ahlberg-Cornell, Prothesis and Ekphora in Greek Geometric Art, Göteborg: P. Åström, 1971, p. 77.
- 8.
H. A. Shapiro, ‘The Iconography of Mourning in Athenian Art’, in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 95, No. 4 (Oct., 1991), pp. 629–656, fig. 9.
- 9.
Plato regards crying as a kind of expression of the ‘effeminate’ (see Plato, Republic 605e.). From this, we can infer that, in the eyes of the great Athenian philosopher, emotional mourning is profitless for men. In contrast, for Aristotle, some strong emotion can evoke tears of pity. In fact, crying is one of the common topics in poetry, tragedy, philosophical and historical texts in ancient Greece. For related recent discussion, please see Thorsten Fögen, ed., Tears in the Graeco-Roman World, Walter de Gruyter, 2009.
- 10.
S. C. Humphreys, ‘Family Tombs and Tomb Cult in Ancient Athens: Tradition or Traditionalism?’, in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 100 (1980), pp. 96–126.
- 11.
Plutarch, Solon, 21.4. While Plutarch’s record remains controversial for some classicists, it is generally considered to be credible.
- 12.
It does not only happen in Athens, but also in other polis , such as Sparta, Keos, Delphi, Gambreion, Katane, Thasos, and Syracuse, and so on, see Plutarch, Lycurgus, 27.3; LSCG 97A; LSCG 77C; LSAM 16; LSAG 315; LSCG suppl. 64; SGDI 2561.
References
Ahlberg-Cornell, Gudrun. 1971. Prothesis and Ekphora in Greek Geometric Art. Göteborg: P. Åström.
Boardman, J. 1955. Painted Funerary Plaques and Some Remarks on Prothesis. ABSA, 50: 51–66.
Cohen, B. ed. 2000. Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art. Leiden.
Fögen, Thorsten, ed. 2009. Tears in the Graeco-Roman World. Walter de Gruyter.
Humphreys, S. C. 1980. Family Tombs and Tomb Cult in Ancient Athens: Tradition or Traditionalism? The Journal of Hellenic Studies 100 (Centenary Issue): 96–126.
Kurtz, D. C. 1985. Vases for the Dead: An Attic Selection, 750–400 B.C. Ed. H.A.G. Brijder. Ancient Greek and Related Pottery. Amsterdam, 314–328.
Shapiro, H. A. 1991. The Iconography of Mourning in Athenian Art. American Journal of Archaeology 95 (4): 629–656.
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Wu, X. (2018). Mourners’ Gestures and Behaviors. In: Mourning Rituals in Archaic & Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0632-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0632-7_4
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