Fallen Soldiers and the Gods: Religious Considerations in the Retrieval and Burial of the War Dead in Classical Greece
The retrieval and subsequent burial of the war dead in classical Greece was considered an important component of any given battle. Scholarship has observed how the retrieval of the war dead in the classical period could determine the outcome of a battle, as well as how the commemoration of the war d...
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| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Equinox Publ.
[2019]
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| Dans: |
The pomegranate
Année: 2019, Volume: 21, Numéro: 1, Pages: 5-25 |
| Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés: | B
Grèce antique (Antiquité)
/ Religion
/ Soldat tombé au combat
/ Rite de passage
/ Dieux
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociologie des religions AG Vie religieuse BE Religion gréco-romaine |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Ancient Religion
B Greek Paganism B Greek Religion B Ancient History B Death B Greek History |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | The retrieval and subsequent burial of the war dead in classical Greece was considered an important component of any given battle. Scholarship has observed how the retrieval of the war dead in the classical period could determine the outcome of a battle, as well as how the commemoration of the war dead functioned as a tool of civic identity, especially in the city of Athens. Although the above observations provide sufficient motivation for the recovery of the battle dead, this paper proposes an additional impetus for their collection: religion. Although scholars have often noted that Greek customs surrounding the war dead were motivated by religious concerns, what those religious concerns were have not been elaborated. This paper remedies this gap by exploring the relationship between the war dead and the gods. In this paper, I argue that the war dead were considered the property of the gods and were afforded special protections for this reason. Moreover, the proper burial of the war dead was necessary to transfer the war dead from the custody of the human world to the gods below. Such a transfer, I argue, maintained the relationship between the polis and the gods, ensuring its continued existence. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1735 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: The pomegranate
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/pome.37900 |