Some Sixth-, Fifth-, and Fourth-Century
Athenian Epitaphs
Athenians (like other Greeks) often carved epitaphs in verse on slabs of rock (stelai)
or on the bases upon which stelai or statues were erected as grave
markers. In the latter part of the fifth century (at about the time white
ground lekythoi were going out of fashion) many of these stelai
began to have carved images as well. The Athenians who did this must have
been at least reasonably prosperous, to afford the stone cutter.
Historians speculate that poorer folk set up epitaphs on white-washed wooden
planks, which have now perished. The examples in each group are arranged
in roughly chronological order, with approximate dates indicated in square
brackets at the end of each.
Some key vocabulary in these epitaphs:
"death
and die" translate thanatos and (apo)thnesko: the
common Greek words for "death" and "die"
"feeling of loss" translates pothos: "desire for what is
absent or lost, fond desire or regret, a yearning after, longing for"
"memory" translates mneme: "memory, recollection"
"perish" translates apophinomai: "decline, decay,
waste away, perish"
"remembrance" translates both mnema and mnemeion:
"memorial, remembrance, record"
"sign" translates sema: "sign, mark, token"
Group 1: Some epitaphs talk
only about the good qualities of the dead person. Here are some examples:
a. This sign his father Kleoboulos set for Xenophantos who perished,
for his
excellence (arete) and restraint (soprosune). [base of a kouros
statue, cf. 530]
b. Of Anthemis this the sign. Companions (hetairoi) crown
her with a circle
of
remembrances because of her excellence (arete) and friendship. [3rd
quarter of 5th cent.]
c. Of Metropis this the sign, who
while she
lived was good, but, having died, has been placed here. [late 5th cent.]
d. Of your excellence (arete),
Neoptleme, time will never destroy
the undying
memory, which you left for your husband. [5th cent.]
e. He who lies here has the name of Krios,
but he had
the soul of a most just man. [c. 400]
f. Through seven decades of life a
friend to all and causing pain to no one,
Sharing in restraint (soprosune) and excellence (arete)
and righteousness (dikaiosune),
I have my part of
the fate that is common to all. [mid 4th cent.]
Group 2: Some epitaphs also
talk about the grief of the survivors. Here are some examples:
a. Of Kairedemos this sign his father
set up when he died,
Amphikhares
lamenting a good child. [c. 560]
b.
This sign, Xenophantos, your father placed for you after you had died,
Sophilos,
for whom you caused grief since you have perished. [c. 520]
c. For the sake of trust and sweet
friendship a companion (hetaira)
Euthylla has
placed this stele on your grave,
Biote. For having an always tearful memory
of your
prime of life, she weeps, of your prime which has perished. [late 5th cent.]
d. Being far from my fathers' land I
died in Athens,
Erseis,
leaving to all whom I knew a feeling of loss. [c. 400]
Group
3: A few epitaphs evoke pity for the
dead themselves. Here are some examples:
a. Pity as you look upon this sign of a
child who has died,
of
Smikythos, who also destroyed the good hope of his friends. [c. 510]
b. Of a child who who has perished, of
Kleoitos the son of Menesaikhmos,
as you look
upon a remembrance take pity, who, being beautiful (kalos), died. [c.
500]
Group
4: A few epitaphs also talk about the fact of death
itself. Here are some examples:
a. Sign of Phrasikleia: a young girl I
will be called always,
instead of
marriage having obtained from the gods this name as my lot. [c. 540]
b. This sign of a dear child Diodoros
has placed to see,
of Stesios,
whom teary death possesses. [c. 500]
c. A remembrance of Mnesagora and
Nikokhares, this has been placed,
but it is
not possible to show the two of them themselves. Fate decreed by some
deity took them away for itself.
To their dear
father and mother they both left great grief
when, having
perished, they went together into the house of Hades. [c.440-430]
d. Her flesh fire has taken away from
sight, here, of Oneso,
her bones
this flowery place holds round about. [late 5th cent.]
e. Your soul, Demetrios, having left
your body,
has gone
to Erebos, but
gratitude for your restraint (sophrsune)
flourishes unaging. Erxis
placed you in the tomb when you had died,
she who had loved
you, together with her children. [mid 4th cent.]
Group 5: This final group contains epitaphs
for soldiers, either as individuals (the first two, marked with an *) or as
groups (the remainder, without an *).
Epitaphs for individuals were almost certainly set up by the families of
the deceased, while epitaphs for groups of soldiers come from public monuments.
*a. Whether a townsman or a stranger who has come from elsewhere,
when you have taken pity on Tetikhos, a good man, go on by;
in war he
perished and lost his fresh youth;
when you have lamented these things, go away to something good. [c. 560-550]
*b.
Stand and take pity beside the sign of Kroisos who had died,
whom once in
the front ranks rushing Ares destroyed. [base of a kouros statue,
c.540]
c. Beside the Hellespont these men lost
their splendid youth
fighting,
but they brought fame to their fatherland.
And so enemies moan, who have
gathered the harvest of war,
but for
themselves these men left a deathless memory of excellence (arete).
[440/39]
d. The upper air has received the souls
of these men, the earth their bodies.
About the
gates of Potidaia they were undone.
Of their enemies, some have a part of the tomb; others, having fled,
made a wall
their most trusted hope of life. [432]
e. This polis and people of
Erekhtheus feel their loss
for the men
who died in the forefront before Potidaia,
Children of Athenians. Having placed their lives in the balance,
they gained
excellence in return, and brought fame to their fatherland. [432, on the same
stone as the preceding]
