311▶ death and burial practices
introduction
Death in the ancient world had many similarities to death in
any other era. While bodies were burned, buried, or left in the
open, survivors grappled with ideas about what it meant to be
human. Th e history of death involves not only the disposal
of remains but also the emotion of grief and the breaking of
bonds between people.
Ancient cultures lacked the means to preserve intact
bodies. Especially in warm climates, decomposition set
in quickly, with the body emitting a stench by the fourth
day. Accordingly, quick disposal of remains was needed for
sanitary as well as aesthetic reasons. Ways of physically re-
moving the dead from the living have changed very little
during the course of human history, with earth burial and
cremation preferred in ancient times as the basic form of
funeral. In Asia followers of Zoroastrianism believed that
preliminary exposure to fl esh-eating animals in an open
space was the only acceptable way of disposing of a body.
No other means of disposal avoided desecrating the revered
elements of fi re, earth, and water. Subsequent collection of
the bones was recommended but not required. Most other
people sought to avoid animal intrusion. Near Eastern
people were known to place bodies in a cave and close the
opening with rocks to keep out carrion-eating animals. For
Christians dismembering of bones ran counter to the hope
of the resurrection of the fl esh. Muslims outlawed the pre-
Islamic Arabian practice of animal sacrifi ce at the gravesite
and preferred level graves.
Some cultures extensively prepared bodies and delayed
burial until their cultural rituals were complete. Many cul-
tures washed and dressed the body, and women were typically
responsible for this duty. Mummifi cation was the preferred
way of handling elite human remains in Egypt and all re-
mains in some American cultures. Th e Chinchorro people of
present-day Chile placed stylized masks on mummifi ed re-
mains of all members of their society, including babies. Th ey
kept the dead among the living for a period of time, perhaps
as a comfort for the bereaved.
Death among the pagan ancients in the Mediterranean
apparently did not involve any metaphysical agony. In the
scant pieces of literature that have survived the ages, there
is no evidence of tortured thought or psychological malaise.
Salvation was associated with the deliverance of the soul from
the bindings of the body, the acquisition of ordinary and su-
pernatural benefi ts, and sometimes with the securing of a
better fate in the hereaft er. Even tragic situations, such as the
death of a child, did not necessarily bring humans closer to
the divine. Many Greeks and Romans either sank into despair
or appear to have accepted the limits of human existence. In
sharp contrast, early Christians radically departed from pa-
gan beliefs by sanctifying human remains and building mon-
uments over the dead. Th ey ignored the pagan taboo against
burying the victims of plagues and the corpses of strangers,
which came out of a fear of catching the disease that had killed
these people. Meanwhile, Muslims avoided funerary monu-
ments as a vain custom. Death is the one constant in every
culture in every period. Ancient death and burial practices
showed concern for both sanitation and cultural taboos.