It is clear from accounts in myth and folklore that in Greek religion the single most
important factor connected to the appearance of ghosts is a death without the proper
ceremonies. We need not look far for explanations of the emphasis placed on burial in
ancient Greece and other societies around the world, including our own. Burial
ceremonies help the living sever emotional ties with the recently deceased, and the
rite of passage involved in death, burial, and the rituals accompanying it brings a sense
of finality for the living. The rituals also provide a way to symbolically join the dead
person to all those who have gone to the afterlife before; in other words, the rituals
provide a transition for both the livingandthe dead. The separation of living and
dead remains paramount, its importance emphasized by the development of extra-
mural burial. Attempts by the living to interact with the dead, and by the dead to
interact with the living, are momentary and ephemeral, as reflected in various Greek
myths and legends. Stories ofkatabasis, necromancy, and hauntings all illustrate
problems with disturbing the boundary between life and death. Heracles brings
Cerberus up to the land of the living, but the creature has no place in that realm,
so Heracles returns it to Hades. Theseus descends to Hades, but barely returns to
earth – without Peirithou ̈s. Orpheus tries to bring Eurydice back to life, but fails.
Odysseus, after the dead gather to drink the blood sacrifice, tries to embrace his
mother’s ghost, but cannot. Restless spirits must be dealt with by proper rituals or by
abandonment of the haunted property. Although the Greeks’ beliefs about survival
after death varied, their beliefs about the necessity of keeping the living and the dead
separate were surprisingly consistent.
GUIDE TO FURTHER READINGFor the ancient conceptualization of death and the underworld in general Rohde 1925 remains
indispensable; see also Vermeule 1979, Hopkins 1983 and Richardson 1985. For Greek burial
customs and festivals see Kurtz and Boardman 1971, Parke 1977, and Garland 2001. For the
underworld gods and other underworld personnel, see Burkert 1985 and Garland 2001. For
katabasis see Clark 1979. For restless spirits and the trouble they could cause, see Luck 1985,
Faraone 1991b, and Johnston 1999a. For human sacrifice to appease spirits, see Hughes 1991.
For necromancy see Ogden 2001. For ancient ghost stories, with particular attention to their
comparative and folkloric context, see Felton 1999.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTI thank David M. Johnson for his comments on and criticisms of this chapter.
The Dead 99