MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND DEATH IN THE BELIEFS AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT GREEKS
Bartosz Lisiecki
Uniwersytet OpolskiAbstract
The family – in the past and today – remains the basic nuclear family. Since the topic is
very extensive, only three aspects of the family life are covered: marriage, the birth of a child and
the death of a family member. In these moments, an important part was the beliefs of the ancient
Greeks. On the wedding day, all the rituals were carefully fulfilled. For good fortune, sacrifices were
made to the gods, and on the day of the wedding at night, they wandered with torches for the joy of
Hestia and to drive off the nightly spirits. When the child was born, the mother had to perform a ritual
purification. But accepting a newborn child depended on the father. If he accepted the child, he
walked around the hearth, the domain of Hestia. Death is an inseparable moment in every family.
What were the family’s duties for the gods and deceased ancestors? They tried to provide the grave
with all the important things, so that the soul would safely go to Hades. The family provided a honey
cake for Cerber’s dog and an obolon for Charon. In a Greek family, religion was important and was
an inseparable element in ancient Greece.
Keywords:
family, ancient Greece, religion, gods, marriage, birth, death, funeral, beliefsReferences
Aguirre M., Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion, ed. M. Christopoulos, New York 2010.
Anonymous. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, transl. H.G. Evelyn-White, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?-doc=HH %2029>.
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 603, transl. S. Ruden, Indianapolis 2003.
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, transl. J. Lindsay, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text ?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0242%3Acard%3D5 98>.
Aristotle, Politics, transl. H. Rackham, London 1944, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Pol.+7.1335b&-fromdoc =Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058>.
Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists, transl. C.D. Yonge, London 1854, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?-doc=Ath.+11.58&fromdoc=P erseus%3Atext%3A2013.01.0003>.
Barnstone W., The Complete Poems of Sappho, Boston 2009.
Białobrzecka D., Obol Charona, in: Menhir nr 10 [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.menhir.archeo.uj.edu.pl/documents/37357302/63575385/obol%20charona1.pdf>.
Demosthenes, Against Boeotus, transl. A.T. Murray, London 1939, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999. 01.0076%3Aspeech%3D40%3Asection%3D12>.
Euripides, Electra, transl. W.J. Oates, New York 1938, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0096%3Acar d%3D646>.
Euripides, Heracles, transl. E. P. Coleridge, New York 1938, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0102%3Acard%3D1255>.
Euripides, Hippolytus, transl. D. Kovacs, Cambridge [n.p.d.], in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0106%3Acard%3D1389>.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, transl. E. P. Coleridge, London 1891, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0108%3Acard%3D716>.
Euripides, Phoenissae, transl. E. P. Coleridge, New York 1937, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0118%3Acard%3D327>.
Flaceliere R., Życie codzienne w Grecji za czasów Peryklesa, transl. Z. Bobowicz, Warszawa 1985.
Foxhall L., Studying Gender in Classical Antiquity, New York 2003.
Homer, Odyssey, transl. A.T. Murray, London 1919, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+9.65&-fromdoc=Perseus%3Atex t%3A1999.01.0136>.
Milner L.S., Hardness of Heart/hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide, New York 2000.
Ostwald M., From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law: Law, Society, and Politics in Fifth-Century Athens, Berkeley 1987.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, transl. W.H.S. Jones, London 1918, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.32.1&fromdoc=P erseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160>.
Pindar, Pythian 4, transl. S.J. Willet, 2001, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0033,002:4>.
Plato, Theaetetus, transl. H.N. Fowler, London 1921, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.01 72%3Atext%3DTheaet.%3Asection%3D160e>.
Plutarch, Lacaenarum Apophthegmata, F.C. Babbitt, London 1931, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Lacae.+ 6.26&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0204>.
Plutarch, Lycurgus, transl. B. Perrin, London 1914, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Lyc.+15.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3A text%3A2008.01.0047>.
Polybius, Histories, transl. E.S. Shuckburgh, London 1962, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plb.+37.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3 Atext%3A1999.01.0234>.
Reinsberg C., Obyczaje seksualne starożytnych Greków, transl. B. Wierzbicka, Gdynia 1998.
Rohde E., The Cult of Sould and Belief in Immortality among the Greek, transl. W. B. Hillis New York 1925.
Sophocles, Trachiniae, transl. Sir R. Jebb, Cambridge 1892, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0196%3Acard%3D1157>.
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, transl. H. Dale, New York 1873.
Vergilius Maro, Aeneid, transl. C. Williams, Boston 1910, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417&fromdoc=Per seus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054>.
Winniczuk L., Ludzie, zwyczaje i obyczaje starożytnej Grecji i Rzymu, Warszawa 1983.
Wypustek A., Życie rodzinne starożytnych Greków, Wrocław 2007.
Xenophanes of Colophon, Fragments, transl. J.H. Lesher, Toronto 2001.
Zaidman L.B., Grecy i ich bogowie, transl. B. Spieralska, Warszawa 2008.
Anonymous. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, transl. H.G. Evelyn-White, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?-doc=HH %2029>.
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 603, transl. S. Ruden, Indianapolis 2003.
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, transl. J. Lindsay, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text ?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0242%3Acard%3D5 98>.
Aristotle, Politics, transl. H. Rackham, London 1944, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Pol.+7.1335b&-fromdoc =Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058>.
Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists, transl. C.D. Yonge, London 1854, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?-doc=Ath.+11.58&fromdoc=P erseus%3Atext%3A2013.01.0003>.
Barnstone W., The Complete Poems of Sappho, Boston 2009.
Białobrzecka D., Obol Charona, in: Menhir nr 10 [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.menhir.archeo.uj.edu.pl/documents/37357302/63575385/obol%20charona1.pdf>.
Demosthenes, Against Boeotus, transl. A.T. Murray, London 1939, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999. 01.0076%3Aspeech%3D40%3Asection%3D12>.
Euripides, Electra, transl. W.J. Oates, New York 1938, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0096%3Acar d%3D646>.
Euripides, Heracles, transl. E. P. Coleridge, New York 1938, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0102%3Acard%3D1255>.
Euripides, Hippolytus, transl. D. Kovacs, Cambridge [n.p.d.], in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0106%3Acard%3D1389>.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, transl. E. P. Coleridge, London 1891, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0108%3Acard%3D716>.
Euripides, Phoenissae, transl. E. P. Coleridge, New York 1937, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0118%3Acard%3D327>.
Flaceliere R., Życie codzienne w Grecji za czasów Peryklesa, transl. Z. Bobowicz, Warszawa 1985.
Foxhall L., Studying Gender in Classical Antiquity, New York 2003.
Homer, Odyssey, transl. A.T. Murray, London 1919, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+9.65&-fromdoc=Perseus%3Atex t%3A1999.01.0136>.
Milner L.S., Hardness of Heart/hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide, New York 2000.
Ostwald M., From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law: Law, Society, and Politics in Fifth-Century Athens, Berkeley 1987.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, transl. W.H.S. Jones, London 1918, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.32.1&fromdoc=P erseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160>.
Pindar, Pythian 4, transl. S.J. Willet, 2001, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0033,002:4>.
Plato, Theaetetus, transl. H.N. Fowler, London 1921, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.01 72%3Atext%3DTheaet.%3Asection%3D160e>.
Plutarch, Lacaenarum Apophthegmata, F.C. Babbitt, London 1931, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Lacae.+ 6.26&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0204>.
Plutarch, Lycurgus, transl. B. Perrin, London 1914, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Lyc.+15.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3A text%3A2008.01.0047>.
Polybius, Histories, transl. E.S. Shuckburgh, London 1962, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plb.+37.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3 Atext%3A1999.01.0234>.
Reinsberg C., Obyczaje seksualne starożytnych Greków, transl. B. Wierzbicka, Gdynia 1998.
Rohde E., The Cult of Sould and Belief in Immortality among the Greek, transl. W. B. Hillis New York 1925.
Sophocles, Trachiniae, transl. Sir R. Jebb, Cambridge 1892, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999 .01.0196%3Acard%3D1157>.
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, transl. H. Dale, New York 1873.
Vergilius Maro, Aeneid, transl. C. Williams, Boston 1910, in: Crane, G.R. ed. The Perseus Project [online], access: 20.05.2017, <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417&fromdoc=Per seus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054>.
Winniczuk L., Ludzie, zwyczaje i obyczaje starożytnej Grecji i Rzymu, Warszawa 1983.
Wypustek A., Życie rodzinne starożytnych Greków, Wrocław 2007.
Xenophanes of Colophon, Fragments, transl. J.H. Lesher, Toronto 2001.
Zaidman L.B., Grecy i ich bogowie, transl. B. Spieralska, Warszawa 2008.
Lisiecki, B. (2018). MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND DEATH IN THE BELIEFS AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT GREEKS. Forum Teologiczne, 19, 177–189. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/ft/article/view/3110
Bartosz Lisiecki
Uniwersytet Opolski
Uniwersytet Opolski
