26 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



designed to supply the state with vigorous citizens and defenders. Celibacj 

 and marriage below rank were considered criminal offences. The women 

 were highly respected by their husbands, and were allowed to show 

 themselves in public. That was not the case with the women of Athens ; 

 they lived retired, and only appeared in public on rare occasions. 

 They were seen, for instance, at the national festivals, and behaved with 

 great dignity. For the most part they selected the domestic circle as the 

 rittest place for the display of their activity. 



Previous to a wedding ceremony the betrothed and their parents offered 

 solemn sacrifices to the patrons of matrimony, Jupiter, Hero, Artemis, 

 and the Parcse. The marriage ceremonies in course of time became more 

 varied ; thus the practice of washing the feet of the bride was introduced. 

 Fl. %,fig. 1. 



In all ancient nations a sacred regard was always felt for the dead, 

 and it found its best expression in ceremonies of sepulture. Immediately 

 after dissolution, the relatives closed the eyes of the corpse, and had it 

 washed and anointed. It was then wrapped in the habiliments of the 

 grave, and laid out for the visits of friends. Dirges were sung, and the 

 grief expressed by symbolical actions. The body was then solemnly 

 consumed. In Sparta the obsequies were simple; public demonstrations 

 of bereavement were prohibited, and the period of mourning confined 

 within eleven days. Only the graves of those who had died in the service 

 of their country were allowed monuments and inscriptions. 



Among the Athenians, the body of the deceased, after anointing, was 

 folded in a costly robe, and decked with green boughs and flowers. It was 

 then laid out to public view. Before sunset the procession started for 

 tlie grave. It was headed by a band of music, and none of the friends 

 under sixty years of age might walk in it. In early times it was customary 

 to bury the corpse, but afterwards it was generally burned. The ashes 

 Were carefully collected and deposited in an urn. Next followed a 

 libation, accompanied by loud and prolonged wailing. A meal generally 

 closed the funeral solemnities. 



The Ceramicus was the common place of burial. The earliest graves 

 among the Greeks were simple caves, or high mounds or elevations above 

 the corpse. These afterwards gave place to tombs, rising several feet, and 

 not seldom surrounded with a balustrade. Marble monuments frequently 

 rose above the dead. The grave-stones of celebrated characters showed 

 ornamental views of the chase, game, contests, races, and sacrifices ; and 

 in the interior Hung beautiful lamps. Paintings and mosaic work gave a 

 pleasing appearance to the whole tomb. PI. 11, fig. 1, stone tombs of 

 Tarquinii, an old city of South Etruria ; fig. 2, tombs of Assus in the 

 district of Cephalonia ; fig. 3, tombs of Cersea, of which ^^. 4 presents the 

 ground plan ; figs. 5, 6, elevation of the grave of Orcla ; figs. 7, 8, ground 

 plan of the same ; figs. 9, 10, elevation and ground plan of graves in 

 Telmessus ; figs. 11, 12, tombs of Falerii ; fig. 13, elevation of monument 

 in Agrigentum ; fig. 14, section of the same ; fig. 15, sepulture, with 

 figures and vase ; figs. 16-20, various urns ; figs. 21-23, tripods. 

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