Death - Burial

The Byzantines did not perceive death as the end of life; on the contrary, they had a profound belief in the afterlife. Many of the customs involved in the death and burial of a Byzantine are still followed today.
 
When death approached, the dying person usually made a will, and asked for a priest in order to confess and be baptized, in case he wasn’t already.

A series of ritual acts followed the advent of death, which comprised the closing of the deceased’s mouth and eyes, the washing of his corpse with water and flavored wine, the wrapping of his corpse with white cloths, his dressing and finally his placing in a coffin. It appears that in Byzantium too they had the custom of placing a coin on the mouth of the deceased to pay for the journey to the other world.

During the vigil, the lament of the deceased’s close relatives was expressed in many ways, such as the symbolic cutting of their hair, the ululation, often reaching an exaggerating point, and of course with the lamentations, ie. the mournful songs that excluded the virtues of the dead.

The burial, which was imposed in Byzantium, did not take place at a predetermined time. The coffin was transferred by relatives, friends and even professional bearers to the final resting place of the deceased. The funeral procession was also accompanied by priests, chanters and a crowd of people. As for the form of the tombs, they could vary from a simple pit or cist grave up to a luxurious sarcophagus, depending on the social and economical status of the deceased.

At night, after returning home from the funeral, the family of the deceased used to prepare a meal to the relatives, friends and clergy.

As happens nowadays, in Byzantine times the memorial prayers for the repose of the soul of the dead took place at the 3^rd, 9^th and 40^th day and at the completion of one year from the day of his death, during which they offered boiled wheat, consisting of wheat mixed with pomegranates, almonds, walnuts, raisins and pine nuts.

The declaration of mourning was expressed mainly by cutting hair, dressing in black clothes and refraining from washing, and, at times, from food. The heavy mourning period in Byzantium, following the Roman custom, lasted nine days , while the nomal one lasted at least one year.

1. Alexiou, M., The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, Lanham, Maryland, 2002

2. Dennis, G.J., Death in Byzantium, 2001

3. Κουκουλές Φ., Βυζαντινών Βίος και Πολιτισμός, Παπαζήση, Athens, 1954

4. Πουλάκου- Ρεμπελάκου, Ε., Το παιδί και η υγεία του στη Βυζαντινή εποχή, 2007

5. ‘Ο κύκλος της ζωής στα έθιμα των Βυζαντινών’ in Ψηφίδες του Βυζαντίου