Thrown Away Like Rubbish - Disposal of the Dead in Ancient Greece

Astrid Lindenlauf

doi:10.5334/pia.161

Abstract

In this article, the literary and archaeological evidence for burial practices that can be associated with the English expression ‘to be disposed of like rubbish’ are discussed. These disposal methods (átaphon rhíptesthai) include the exposure of corpses to carrion animals, to the elements, as well as the disposal of corpses into the sea, pits or natural fissures without burial rites. They also include cases in which graves were dug up in order to throw their contents out. Here, the Greek expressions for the English phrase ‘to be thrown away like rubbish’ are explored, as well as its relation to Morris’ (1987) influential concept of the ‘non-formal burial’. The analysis of the symbolism of various disposal methods has been based on both literary and archaeological sources. Also addressed are issues such as the intersection of the exclusion from full and proper burial procedures with social status and social groups. Lastly, the dangers for the living and the dead associated with casually disposed of human remains are briefly tackled, including the transformation of the souls of the deceased into spirits and their loss of human-ness.

Highlights

Whilst working on my doctoral thesis on ancient Greek waste management, news of a human body that was discovered by police after it had been thrown away like a piece of rubbish, and the well-known photo of a Bosnian corpse surrounded by garbage, which was taken by Fullone (Vergine 1997, 195, fig. 214), drew my attention to the fact that objects and materials were thrown away like, or together with, rubbish, and the physical remains of humans
Since I was exploring the practices of disposal and recycling in ancient Greece, I was not so much interested in the casual disposal of the physical remains of modern people, but rather in those of ancient Greeks
A synthetic study based on the critical discussion of both the relevant literary sources, which tend to shed light on the public and male-dominated domain of archaic and classical Athens, and archaeological sources, which tend to illuminate a much longer time-span and a much broader topographical area, has not been presented

Summary

Astrid Lindenlauf

The literary and archaeological evidence for burial practices that can be associated with the English expression ‘to be disposed of like rubbish’ are discussed. These disposal methods (átaphon rhíptesthai) include the exposure of corpses to carrion animals, to the elements, as well as the disposal of corpses into the sea, pits or natural fissures without burial rites. They include cases in which graves were dug up in order to throw their contents out.

Introduction

Conclusions

List of Abbreviations