Prothesis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prothesis on a pinax by the Gela painter , around 500 BC Chr.

Prothesis ( Greek  πρόθεσις próthesis , "exhibition or display") is the name for the laying out of a deceased. It was probably since the 8th century BC at the latest. An integral part of the Greek burial ritual. The corpse was laid out on a couch ( κλίνη klínē ), usually covered with a cloth (Greek φάρος pháros ) and weeping from the relatives and other mourners.

Finds of skulls in graves from the 8th century BC can be seen as indirect evidence of the importance of the prosthesis. Apply. In particular the representations of laying out scenes on geometric vessels from the 8th century BC. BC suggest a high importance of the ritual. At about the same time or a little later the Homeric epics are to be added. They too describe the prothesis as an integral part of the funeral celebrations for the great heroes.

The name is first mentioned on an inscription from the 6th century BC. BC, the oldest literary mention is found in Plato . However, prosthesis scenes are already described in Homer. A Solonic law restricted the prosthesis in Athens to the house and to a period of one day.

literature

  • Willy Zschietzschmann : The representation of the prosthesis in Greek art. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Athenian Department. Volume 53, 1928, pp. 17-47.
  • John Boardman : Painted Funerary Plaques and Some Remarks on Prothesis. In: The Annual of the British School at Athens . Volume 50, 1955, pp. 51-66.
  • Gisela Ahlberg: Prothesis and ekphora in Greek geometric art. Gothenburg 1971.
  • Eliane Brigger, Adalberto Giovannini: Prothésis: étude sur les rites funéraires chez les Grecs et les étrusques. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Volume 116, 2004, pp. 179-248.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federico Halbherr , Margherita Guarducci : Inscriptiones Creticae 4. Tituli Gortynii. Rome 1950, 22B.
  2. ↑ Plato, Nomoi 947b 3; 959e 5 .
  3. ↑ Homer, Iliad 18, 352-355; 24, 719-776.
  4. ↑ Solon Fragment 109 ( Ruschenbusch ) = Pseudo-Demosthenes , orationes 43, 62.