volume 7, issue 1, 2015, pages 88-102

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsFRZT4348
Published online: 2015-06-01
Published in print: 2015-06-30

Abstract: The Greek epitaphs originate in the classic epigraphic collections (Werner Peel, Hermann Beckby), they witness to the afterlife imaginations of women, as they live their life in the underworld. They are mainly negative ones – and so are their definitions of the Underworld. These women describe their status in the underworld, their feelings and reactions of their environment to their death. They deal with the decay of their body, their beauty and their very existence. The deceased ones express their desire to come back to life, to stay at least a little longer with their beloved ones, and to advise them how to improve the quality of their life. They recount the selfishness and greed of the Greek gods, who prefer their own needs to anyone and anything else. The Greek hic jacets are full of hopelessness, sadness and pain as well as seeking to make sense of human suffering. The contribution offers a short comparison with a Christian epitaph too, which is very different as it is, influenced and infused by the hope springing from Christ’s resurrection, and as a consequence of this the loss of the beloved person, though being a painful experience for the bereaved ones, is in the end powerfully signed by the Christian kerygma.