Marriage to Death: Sophocles’ Antigone (handout)
03/28/14 • -1 min
Dr Heather Sebo contrasts the traditions of women’s lament with the public orations associated with the communal burial of the war dead. It contrasts the traditional focus on personal grief and the irreplaceable uniqueness of the deceased individual with the political view of the dead as interchangeable and replaceable, as hero citizens who have done their duty in dying for the city but who will be replaced by others who will do the same. Sophocles’ Antigone (442 BCE) is very relevant to this issue in that it explores the psychological cost of suppressing the emotional expression of mourning and anticipates and the “replaceability argument”, especially as it will later be expressed in Perikles’ funeral oration (Thucydides 2.44.3).
Copyright 2014 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
Dr Heather Sebo contrasts the traditions of women’s lament with the public orations associated with the communal burial of the war dead. It contrasts the traditional focus on personal grief and the irreplaceable uniqueness of the deceased individual with the political view of the dead as interchangeable and replaceable, as hero citizens who have done their duty in dying for the city but who will be replaced by others who will do the same. Sophocles’ Antigone (442 BCE) is very relevant to this issue in that it explores the psychological cost of suppressing the emotional expression of mourning and anticipates and the “replaceability argument”, especially as it will later be expressed in Perikles’ funeral oration (Thucydides 2.44.3).
Copyright 2014 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
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Death in Athens
One of the best sources of evidence for understanding an ancient society is burials. Ancient cemeteries can provide evidence for population, diet, social divisions, religious beliefs and cultural practices, and changes in funerary method can signal changes in social and cultural attitudes and priorities. However, the evidence needs to be treated carefully, since cemeteries do not necessarily provide direct reflections of ancient populations and can represent idealised social identities. In this lecture Dr Gillian Shepherd looks at patterns, shifts and changes in classical Athenian burial customs and explores their possible explanations.
Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
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Marriage to Death: Sophocles’ Antigone
Dr Heather Sebo contrasts the traditions of women’s lament with the public orations associated with the communal burial of the war dead. It contrasts the traditional focus on personal grief and the irreplaceable uniqueness of the deceased individual with the political view of the dead as interchangeable and replaceable, as hero citizens who have done their duty in dying for the city but who will be replaced by others who will do the same. Sophocles’ Antigone (442 BCE) is very relevant to this issue in that it explores the psychological cost of suppressing the emotional expression of mourning and anticipates and the “replaceability argument”, especially as it will later be expressed in Perikles’ funeral oration (Thucydides 2.44.3).
Copyright 2014 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
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