The Ritual Breaking of Objects in Greek Funerary Contexts: A Note

Abstract

THE study of burial customs in antiquity, is of course, a vast one. Like so much else it is dependent upon the quality of observation of the excavators, but in many cases the evidence, even when fully observed, may be, at best, tenuous. For the world of classical antiquity we are fortunate enough to have a number of references in Greek and Latin texts to give, at least, a starting point; even then, however, the picture is lacunary and often specific to one cultural zone. A particular aspect of funerary rites which has received comparatively little attention is the question of the ritual breakage of objects deposited in the grave. L. V. Grinsell examined this phenomenon over a wide range of examples both chronological and geographical.' Yet in a recent attempt at synthesis on the subject of Greek funerary customs Kurtz and Boardman seem to ignore this fundamental gathering of evidence, although they discuss the rarity with which the phenomenon has been clearly observable in Greek contexts.2 It is, indeed, true that the bulk of the examples which Grinsell could quote from the Greek world relate to the Mycenaean period rather than the later, historical era. Indeed, despite the care with which several archaeologists have searched for evidence of this practice in Greek cemeteries of the historic period it has seldom, if ever, been clearly demonstrated.3 In 1976-77 several tombs of Hellenistic date were excavated at the site of Asine in the Argolid; one of these tombs produced clear evidence of the ritual breakage of a specific pot type, and in the light of this, finds in two other tombs in the group could be similarly interpreted. The three tombs in question, excavated by the writer and Dr. Inga Haigg, all date to the earlier 3rd century B.C., shortly after the city's refoundation by the Antigonids.4 All consist of small shafts cut into the ground, the deceased being laid out in extended position with a small variety of grave goods, mostly pottery, around him/her, the whole being covered with large 'Lakonian' tiles, normally at least one layer of four, but sometimes with two or more layers. In our present context the important tomb was B46.5 Oriented ENE-WSW (heads ENE), it had been cut through part of the wall of an apsidal Late Geometric funerary building; the covering, a double layer of tiles forming a gable with extra vertical tiles closing the two ends, lay over a double burial. The two corpses, an adolescent female and an adult male, were buried in that order one above the other and apparently on the same occasion. The grave-goods were found in the bottom of the grave and thus around the lower skeleton which was less well preserved than its overlying companion. Apart from an oblong iron object of unknown function which lay across the knees of the interment, the other votives were vases of two types, krateriskoi and alabastra. One of the krateriskoi lay between the ankles; apparently it was intact at the time of burial but was shattered into pieces during the filling of the grave, all the pieces being found together. The two other krateriskoi were found immediately outside the tomb; of one in fact only the base was preserved, while the other had apparently been placed on top of one end of the gabled tile cover and was again shattered in situ into 37+ tiny pieces as the earth was placed on top of the closed grave. Those natural breakages contrasted strangely with that encountered in the other vase type, the alabastra.