Introduction to the Second Edition Margaret Alexiou’s The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, first published in 1974, has long since been established as a classic in several fields. Even in the wake of a large number of studies on Greek lament since then, Alexiou’s book remains what it was at its original publication twenty-five years ago: the only generic and diachronic study of learned and popular lament… Read more
Preface My purpose in this book is to study the ritual lament as it evolved and developed throughout Greek tradition, indicating how poets of different ages were able to draw on a common fund of ideas, themes and formulae, frequently investing an old and well-established convention with a new significance and contributing something of their own. At the same time, since the practice of ritual lamentation is… Read more
Problems and method The lament for the dead is essentially functional. It is only one part of a complex tradition of ritual customs and beliefs. To understand the nature of its development in Greek tradition, and to determine the extent of its continuity from ancient to modern times, it must therefore be studied not in isolation but as an integral part of the ritual to which it… Read more
1. Tradition and change in antiquity μή μ᾽ ἄκλαυτον ἄθαπτον ἰὼν ὄπιθεν καταλείπειν,νοσφισθείς, μή τοί τι θεῶν μήνιμα γένωμαι. Od. 11.72-3 Don’t abandon me, don’t leave me behind, unwept and unburied,lest I become a visitation upon you from the gods. The first soul to greet Odysseus on his visit to the Underworld was that of Elpenor, who had been left unwept and… Read more
2. From paganism to Christianity We have seen in the first chapter how the function and purpose of the lament changed in accordance with the historical developments of antiquity. What was the impact of the economic, social and religious upheavals which accompanied the decline of the ancient world and the rise of Byzantium? Was there not an inevitable transformation by Christianity of all the most characteristic features… Read more
3. Modern survivals In a country with a large rural population like Greece, where geographical conditions and backward communications have led to the growth of isolated and self-contained communities, each preserving distinct its local dialect and traditions, it is natural to find many pre-Christian survivals, especially in connection with something so fundamental as death. The mere existence of ritual beliefs and practices in Greece today does not… Read more
4. The ritual lament for gods and heroes The close connection between ritual and lamentation analysed in Part I suggests that the traditional lament for the dead fulfils a dual function: objectively, it is designed to honour and appease the dead, while subjectively, it gives expression to a wide range of conflicting emotions. But the lament for the dead should not be viewed in isolation from two… Read more
5. The historical lament for the fall or destruction of cities Laments for cities are inspired initially by historical events. They do not belong essentially to the same group of ritual, functional songs as the laments for the dead or for gods which have been discussed so far. It would therefore be outside the scope of the present book to make an exhaustive study of all the… Read more
6. The classification of ancient and modern laments and songs to the dead The difficulties involved in making a satisfactory classification of ancient types of lament arise from the conflicting nature of the evidence. Classical and post-classical poetic usage tended to treat the various terms as synonymous, with few real distinctions. In an attempt to impose order, Alexandrian and later scholars neatly divided and defined, but with… Read more
7. Antiphonal structure and antithetical thought So far we have considered the lament for the dead both in relation to the funeral ritual of which it is still an integral part, and in relation to other kinds of ritual laments and songs to the dead. The similarities between the ancient and modern material may be explained partly in terms of the common cultural basis of all such… Read more
