The author sheds new light on aspects of the beliefs, attitudes, and rituals surrounding death in ancient Greece from the Minoan and Mycenean period to the end of the classical age. She draws on different types of evidence - from literary texts to burial customs, inscriptions, and images in art - to explore the fragmentary and problematic evidence for the reconstruction of attitudes towards, and the beliefs and practices pertaining to death and the afterlife.The book is also a sophisticated critique of the methodologies appropriate for interpreting the evidence for ancient beliefs. Insights from athropology and other disciplines help to inform the reconstruction of these beliefs and to minimize the intrustion of culturally determined assumptions which reflect modern thinking rather than ancient realities.
Readership: Scholars and advanced students of classical (Greek) literature, history, anthropology, and civilization.
Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, Reader in Classical Literature, Reading University
"Her strength lies in her honesty; Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood is more explicit about her methodology than perhaps any other current writer on the ancient world, and her plea to the reader, to "invest the effort" needed to acknowledge the complexity of the issues of social and cultural change under discussion should be heeded." - Times Literary Supplement
"Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood is more explicit about her methodology than perhaps any other current writer on the ancient world, and her plea to the reader to "invest the effort" needed to acknowledge the complexity of the issues of social and cultural change under discussion, should be heeded." - Times Higher Education Supplement
"The author is well-informed and provides valuable insights in some areas. ... a fund of useful references." - Rahal XXIX, 1996
"An interesting book." - The Historian
