Death and Dying, Rituals and Afterlife, Beliefs of the Ancient Greeks Dissertation

finish and Dying, Rituals and Afterlife, Beliefs of the antediluvian patriarch Grecians - Dissertation ExampleThe ancient Greek had several beliefs related to the dead and dying, they had strong beliefs and rites which reflected the role of human nous, location and actions believed to have occurred after shoemakers last and as a result they formulated strict rituals which were to be performed after a person died and their beliefs which were connect with death played a fundamental role during the death rituals (Taylor 39-51). The funerals of the ancient Greek consisted of three acts which were detect to the minute detail. These acts comprised of the procedures of laying down the deceaseds body, the procession to the grave yard, and the actual burial of the cremated remains of the dead. Similar to most funerals in todays civilized world the ancient Greek displayed family wealth and kinship ties. It was both a ceremony and much like a social event to call down f bewell to the d ead as well as an act of consolation to the family of the deceased. However, this was a function that displayed the familys wealth and kinship, it was further a rite of passage from the living soul to the afterlife and the main role was to support the soul along its journey to afterlife. (Taylor 83-109). The ancient Greek strongly believed that if the soul was not inhumed past its entrance into the perdition would be compromised and thus the fundamental purpose of these rituals was extremely important to the prox of the soul after death. Most of the ancient Greeks believe that if the soul was not allowed to enter into the Hades then it was not be able to gain peace for it was to be disembodied. This created great fear among the Greeks and the denial of proper(a) burial rites was often used as a punishment for those who had committed serious crimes during their lifetime. The most feared showcase of death was at sea since the body could not be retrieved to be accorded proper bur ial (Robben 61-75). Death Deities in Greek Legend and Myth Like in most religions, there were deities in Ancient Greek which were accorded roles and responsibilities during the personification of the deceased. There are various deities, who are either related to or are offered to the personification of the deceased and some of the most common deities that existed are as discussed below Hades Hades was known as the underworld Greek god, it was the destination of the soul after the death of an individual. This god presided everyplace the punishment of the deceased after he/she died. The name of the god was also the synonym of the underworld and it is confusable to the Christian belief of the existence of Hell (Robben 93-117). Thanatos Thanatos was the brother of Hypnos and the son of Nyx the god of cessation and also the goddess of night. Further, he was also the Greek death personification. When an individual passed away, it would be his responsibility to direct the soul to the un derworld (Obayashi 24-33). The Fates Under Greek mythology, the Fates were three sisters which were responsible for the destiny of the soul. They were also associated with death as they located for how long an individual was supposed to live before he died. The three sisters were Clotho who spinned and individuals thread of life, Lachesis who determined the aliveness of a person, and Atropos who after the others had made their decisions, she would eventually cut the thread of life of an individual hence close his life (Taylor 113-148). Greek Concept of