The ancient Greeks are known for having a rich and prominent culture. As part of their elaborate culture, they had many beliefs about death and the afterlife. The ancient Greeks had various death related encounters, beliefs, rituals and practices, and attitudes towards death for hundreds of years.
When thinking of the ancient world, many think of relatively short lifespans; this is not true for the ancient Greeks. A recent study by Menelaos L. Batrinos, shows that ancient Greeks had a median life average of 70 years (Batrinos). This means that the ancient Greeks lived longer lives, thus having less experience with death. They had less death related encounters than one would think for the time period, so while death was an important part of …show more content…
They believed that a person died when their psyche, or spirit of the dead, left their body as a little breath or puff of wind (Department of Greek and Roman Art). One of the major beliefs about death in Ancient Greece was about the afterlife. They believed that dead beings went to the underworld, a realm presided over by the God, Hades. Once in the underworld there were three fates that could befall the deceased; the good would reap their rewards in Elysium, the bad would suffer in this pits on Tartarus, and those in between would spend eternity wandering the fields of the underworld. It was chosen were people would end up by the way they acted during there life as well as how their loved ones viewed them after they passed (Mark). One could only make their journey to the underworld after their body had been buried. This belief came to be because once one was underground then they would be able to cross the underground river, Styx, in order to get the the underworld. The only way to cross the river was to pay a coin to the ferryman, Charon, and he would take them across the river to the gates on the underworld. It was because of this belief that many ancient Greeks were buried with coin, so that they could pay Charon for passage (Carr). There were many other burial practices in ancient
When thinking of the ancient world, many think of relatively short lifespans; this is not true for the ancient Greeks. A recent study by Menelaos L. Batrinos, shows that ancient Greeks had a median life average of 70 years (Batrinos). This means that the ancient Greeks lived longer lives, thus having less experience with death. They had less death related encounters than one would think for the time period, so while death was an important part of …show more content…
They believed that a person died when their psyche, or spirit of the dead, left their body as a little breath or puff of wind (Department of Greek and Roman Art). One of the major beliefs about death in Ancient Greece was about the afterlife. They believed that dead beings went to the underworld, a realm presided over by the God, Hades. Once in the underworld there were three fates that could befall the deceased; the good would reap their rewards in Elysium, the bad would suffer in this pits on Tartarus, and those in between would spend eternity wandering the fields of the underworld. It was chosen were people would end up by the way they acted during there life as well as how their loved ones viewed them after they passed (Mark). One could only make their journey to the underworld after their body had been buried. This belief came to be because once one was underground then they would be able to cross the underground river, Styx, in order to get the the underworld. The only way to cross the river was to pay a coin to the ferryman, Charon, and he would take them across the river to the gates on the underworld. It was because of this belief that many ancient Greeks were buried with coin, so that they could pay Charon for passage (Carr). There were many other burial practices in ancient