OR THE BURNING OP THE DEAD. 85 



" shall be buried so that they may look towards the west *." 

 Both these institutes obviously preclude the idea of crema- 

 tion. 



But although, in some of the Grecian states, the ancient cus- 

 tom seems to have long retained its influence, it cannot be de- 

 nied, that, according to Homer, the mode of burning had been 

 very common among the Greeks before the time of the Trojan 

 war. From the particularity with which he describes the fune- 

 ral rites of Patroclus, in the twenty-third book of the Iliad, 

 there is no reason to suppose that he viewed them as even at 

 that time a recent institution. 



It would appear, indeed, that the Phrygians were acquainted 

 with this custom before it was received by the Greeks f. But 

 it can scarcely be supposed, that the Greeks borrowed it from 

 them, either during the Trojan war, or in any preceding era. 

 It is far more probable, that it had made its way from Thrace, 

 where it unquestionably prevailed in an early age | ; especial- 

 ly as it cannot reasonably be doubted, that a considerable, if 

 not the greatest part of Greece, was peopled from that coun- 

 try. The Thracians, most probably, received this custom from 

 their progenitors the Scythians, who inhabited those vast re- 

 gions now known by the name of Tartary. As the people of 

 that country, apparently in the most remote ages, erected very- 

 large tumuli in honour of the dead, it is undeniable, from the 

 remains found in those which have been explored by the Rus- 

 sians or Tartars, that, in many instances at least, they burned 

 their bodies. Mr Tooke, indeed, informs us, that no sepul- 

 chral urns have been discovered in any of these tombs. 



" Of 



* Muak. Var. Hist. lib. v. c. 14. 



■J- Alex, ab Alexandro, Gen. Dies, lib. iii. c. 2. 



t Herodot. Hist. Terpsich. c. 8. 



