Ancient Identities: Abstract and Keywords

Ancient Identities:
Ancient Identities
Gillian Shepherd
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial
Edited by Liv Nilsson Stutz and Sarah Tarlow
Print Publication Date: May 2013 Subject: Archaeology, Life and Death
Online Publication Date: Aug 2013 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199569069.013.0030
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter illustrates the ways in which three critical social identities—age, gender, and
ethnicity—could be depicted through the archaeological mortuary record of ancient
Greece and Greek settlements in Italy and Sicily between the Geometric and Hellenistic
periods. It provides a range of case studies which indicate not only the importance of
these identities in the formulation of burial systems, but also the fact that their visibility
could vary over time and place and that the suppression of these identities can be of as
much significance to modern research as their articulation. It further notes that not only
were these identities often tightly interrelated in their material form but also that issues
of status—a fourth social identity—could be a factor in the construction of ancient Greek
burials.
Keywords: burial customs, ancient Greece, ethnicity, gender, childhood, ancient Italy
Introduction
This chapter investigates the articulation of three main social identities—age, gender, and
ethnicity—in burial practices in the ancient Greek world from the Geometric to Hellenis
tic periods. These three forms of identity are now recognized as playing important roles
in the formation of the archaeological burial record of the ancient Greeks, but the nature
and degree of the deployment of material culture to express these identities could also be
very varied across time and place, reflecting changing social priorities. In the limited
space here, it is not possible to provide a complete synthesis for the time period, nor to
provide a diachronic overview; instead, an illustration is provided of the ways in which
these sorts of identities could be articulated at burial through a range of case studies
drawn from different periods of Greek history and from different parts of the Greek
world, including not only mainland Greece but Greek settlements—often referred to
somewhat misleadingly as Greek colonies, but in fact politically independent entities—
elsewhere in the Mediterranean region.
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Ancient Identities:
Age and Inclusion: Identifying the Young

The ancient Greeks regularly highlighted age distinctions in their burial practices, usually
between broad categories which we label ‘child’ and ‘adult’. More subtle distinctions—
such as the identification of old age, for example—are harder to detect and adults are not
often characterized by age, although occasionally gravestones depict aged individuals
(Stears 1995). The various stages of childhood have however been identified (discussed
later in the chapter) and the basic distinction between ‘child’ and ‘adult’ is very often and
most obviously (p. 544) made through the burial method, where receptacles and technique
are often clearly differentiated on age grounds.
As for any ancient society, mortality rates for ancient Greek children were high: it has
been estimated that perhaps 42.47% of a population would die before the age of 15
(Weiss 1973). There was a general tendency for children to be inhumed rather than cre
mated, even in places where cremation was regularly practised for adults, which may be
related to the practical difficulties of incinerating a small body with low body fat (cf.
Shepherd 2007: 94 n. 4). Lately, analyses of ancient Greek cemeteries have also highlight
ed significant fluctuations across time and place in the formality of disposal of children
(i.e. the degree to which their burials left a trace upon the archaeological record), in addi
tion to the problems caused by poor preservation of fragile skeletal material and biases in
excavation (e.g. Lagia 2007). It has long been recognized that children could be buried
apart from adults in separate cemeteries or sections of cemeteries, such as at Phaleron
(7th century: Young 1942), Marathon (Soteriades 1934), and Eleusis in Attica (cf. also
Young 1939: 15), and excavations at Kylindra on Astypalaia have revealed a huge late ar
chaic–early classical child cemetery with well over 2,000 burials, most of them children
under 2 years of age (Hillson 2009).The more recent realization that children could also
be severely underrepresented in the mortuary record (and not for reasons of improved
health and paediatric medicine) has raised some additional intriguing questions and theo
ries about attitudes to children and their role in the wider society. Thus, for example, Ian
Morris (1987) has argued that a significant increase in child burials in Athens between c.
725–700 reflects changing political circumstances in a wider context where under-repre
sentation of children accompanied the exclusion of much of the adult population in
Athens, indicative of political conditions in which only elites gained access to formal bur
ial.
The question of infanticide, especially of females by exposure, as a method of disposing of

unwanted children in ancient Greece has a long history of debate (more recently, see e.g.
Engels 1980, 1984, Golden 1981, 1990, Harris 1982, Patterson 1985, Pomeroy 1993, Gar
land 2001: 80–2, Scott 2001). Unsurprisingly, there is a lack of clear archaeological evi
dence for this procedure (and the ‘negative’ evidence potentially provided by formal
cemeteries is itself open to different interpretations, as noted above; see further below on
gender discrepancies) and we are reliant on textual sources of limited value (e.g. Plato
Theaetetus 160e–161a; Aristotle Pol. 1335b, Polybius 36.17.5). In Sparta, infants were re
portedly inspected by the tribal elders and, if found to be unfit, exposed in the Apothetae,
a chasm below Mt Taygetos (Plutarch Lykourgos 16).To what extent exposure or other
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Ancient Identities:
forms of infanticide such as neglect were practised elsewhere is hard to establish: al
though the arrival of unwanted infants might have placed pressures on household fi
nances (whether through poverty or inheritance issues), the willingness of parents to dis
pose of offspring might have varied considerably and the high natural rate of infant mor
tality might have meant that deaths were sufficiently common occurrences that it was not
often necessary or desirable to engineer them.
Evidence which might contribute to explaining the lack of infants in cemeteries comes
from a deposit in a Hellenistic well (Well G5:3) near the Athenian agora. It was closed
around 150 BC, but the pottery suggests it accumulated over a relatively short period of
time, perhaps 20 years or less (Rotroff 1999). In it were found the remains of an adult
male, an 11-year-old child and approximately 450 foetuses, neonates, and infants, togeth
er with faunal remains, including perhaps 150 dogs (Little 1999; Snyder 1999). Most of
the human remains were identified as neonates, raising the possibility of exposure in the
well; but given that the Hellenistic (p. 545) period is one where formal child burial ap
pears to be lower than previously (Houby Nielsen 2000: 155, see also Pomeroy 1993 and
Lagia 2007), the well may reflect an accepted and regular method of disposal of extreme
ly young individuals who died through natural causes (Rotroff 1999, Papadopoulos 2000:
110–11).
A critical issue here is of course how we identify a ‘child’ in the archaeological record.
The rapid rate of decay of the bone material of young individuals means that often burials
are assumed on the basis of other evidence, such as a large vase used for enchytrismos
(inhumation in a storage vessel) burials. This can be problematic in cemeteries such as
the North Cemetery at Corinth, where large vases were also clearly used as external of
ferings and accordingly it is harder to distinguish between burials and offerings (Blegen
et al. 1964, Dickey 1992). In other cases, grave length is used as an indicator: a grave cut
or receptacle such as a sarcophagus with an internal length of less than 1.25–1.5 m is
usually categorized as child or ‘sub-adult’, where the arrangement of the corpse in an ex
tended position can be safely assumed. This method obviously depends to a large degree
on biological age and physical development in the distinction of child versus adult and as
such presents potential problems of interpretation, since social constructs of age and
points of transition to adulthood do not necessary correspond to physical maturity, and
concepts of adolescence are a particularly grey area (see also Beaumont 1994). There is
some evidence, however, that different stages of childhood were identified by the Greeks
at death: a lack of individuals under 2 years of age is noted with some regularity (Lagia
2007, cf. Hillson 2009); for Athens, Sanne Houby-Nielsen (2000) has detected three age
divisions up to the age of 10, manifested through grave design and grave goods. She fur
ther argues that graves of older children and adolescents were not differentiated from
those of ‘adults’ and that particular emphasis was placed upon the burial of children in
archaic and classical Athens due to the importance of producing legitimate children who
could hold Athenian citizenship (see also Lagia 2007). On Attic funerary sculpture of the
classical period children are not common subjects, but appear with sufficient frequency
to indicate that here too different ages of children could be carefully distinguished, as in
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Ancient Identities:
the case of Mnesagora and her younger brother Nikochares (Beaumont 2003, Oakley
2003, Grossman 2007).
The sorts of relationships between the burial of children and the adult social and political
world which are argued for Athens increasingly appear to be true for other areas of the
Greek world too. This is evident through subsequent forms of selection applied to chil
dren at death, following the decision of whether to dispose of a child formally or not. It
has often been observed that, within a particular cemetery, some child graves are notice
ably costly in design and goods and in some cases as, or even more, wealthy than those of
their adult counterparts. This is the case, for example, at Pithekoussai, the earliest Greek
settlement in Italy, where the baby in the late Geometric Tomb 652 was accompanied by
22 fibulae (Buchner and Ridgway 1993); or at Megara Hyblaea in Sicily, where the three
children of the archaic Tomb 501 were described as ‘literally covered in silver’ by the ex
cavator, who viewed it as the wealthiest of all the 1,000-odd graves he had unearthed at
the site (Orsi 1913: 195). At Olynthos in northern Greece a few children were given ‘rich’
burials, with items of metalwork (e.g. Graves 69, 153) as well as relatively numerous
goods of other types, such as pottery; Grave 597 was one of the very few sarcophagi in
the Olynthian cemeteries and Grave 587 included fragments of bronze covered in gold
leaf—the latter substance always a rarity in Greek graves (Robinson 1942).
Much of the jewellery in these rich child graves is of ‘adult’ size, suggesting that the dis
play of disposable wealth was at least one factor in its deposition. Yet fluidity in what con
stituted a ‘child’ at death also seems to be a feature of some Greek cemeteries, where
there are occasional instances (p. 546) of obviously young individuals being buried in the
manner of an adult and against a background of a different burial system for their con
temporaries. One case is that of a boy of approximately 12 years old who died at Pithek
oussai in the later 8th century BC (Buchner and Ridgway 1993: Tomb 168): his grave was
very rich in terms of goods (27 vases, including the famous ‘Nestor Cup’, and a silver ser
pentine fibula), but perhaps of even more significance was his manner of burial: unlike
his adolescent peers, he was not buried in a trench grave but was cremated, like more
mature Pithekoussians, and the tumulus covering his ashes was conjoined with an earlier
one in what we assume was a family plot. One possible explanation is that these sorts of
rich, ‘adult’ burials of children might represent the graves of offspring who had particu
larly significant positions within the family or household unit, perhaps as the first legiti
mate male heir.
How far gender played a role in child disposal is particularly difficult to determine, since
there is as yet no reliable way of sexing a child skeleton. The possibility of the exposure
or neglect of female children in particular has been noted above. While some grave goods
—especially at the richer end of the scale—may carry gender connotations (such as jew
ellery and strigils (oil scrapers): discussed later), these are largely derived from their use
in adult grave contexts and the extent to which such gender identities can be extrapolat
ed to children is questionable, given that not all societies apply adult gender roles to
younger members and, as noted above, social factors such as wealth display may have
been stronger influences in determining the nature of grave goods. Nevertheless, an in
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Ancient Identities:
teresting potential case of the significance of selected infants in the burial record and
possible gender roles is provided by the recent re-analysis of the cremated remains from
the 9th century grave dubbed that of the ‘Rich Athenian Lady’. This burial (technically
Tomb H 16:6), discovered in 1967 in an area between the classical agora of Athens and
the Areopagus, was a cremation of a woman accompanied by ostentatious grave goods,
notably a pair of elaborate gold earrings and an unusual pyxis (cosmetic box), decorated
with five objects often thought to represent granaries. The grave has traditionally been
interpreted as the demonstration of the wealth and status of the woman's kinship group,
but recent re-examination of the burial has revealed the presence of a very young child,
carried almost to full term and possibly delivered, amongst the cremated remains. If this
child was, or was perceived to be, a male heir, then the richness of the burial may be less
to do with the adult female than with the child (Liston and Papadopoulos 2004). The sig
nalling of inheritance routes, lineages, and bloodlines, especially through males, might
have been an important factor in determining the nature of child burials, especially
amongst more elite groups (see further Shepherd 2007).
The Battle of the Sexes? Gender Identity in An

cient Greek Burial
In studies of the archaeology of death and burial, issues of gender tend to be closely
linked with the determination of biological sex, since the burial provides an invaluable op
portunity for the comparison of the social construct of gender with the physical charac
teristics of biological sex. This is an area of research which has received increasing atten
tion of late, not least as a result of refinements in skeletal analysis, since patterns in bur
ial method, grave goods, and commemoration may now be more readily compared with
the (p. 547) sex of the deceased individuals. In common with many other areas of burial
archaeology, older studies of ancient Greek burials tended to rely on the identification of
assumed ‘male’ and ‘female’ grave goods in order to make judgements regarding the sex
of individuals; in combination with skeletal analysis, such inferences may generally hold
true, although some assumptions have been challenged as well. It is also the case that
gender, as with other social identities promulgated at burial—such as age and status, with
which notions of gender may be inextricably entwined—may represent idealized or al
tered views rather than actual practice or situations (for general discussion see Arnold
and Wicker 2001, Parker Pearson 2003: 95–102, Arnold 2006, Brumfiel 2006: 38–40).
Sex determination from skeletal material is by no means always conclusive and is heavily
reliant on the quality and quantity of preserved remains, especially of the pelvis, and may
also suffer from systematic bias in identification (cf. Morris 1992: 82, Weiss 1972). For the
Greek world, as elsewhere, there is also the question of preservation subsequent to exca
vation: a number of Greek cemeteries were excavated many years ago, when the signifi
cance of skeletal material was not fully realized and as a result remains were discarded.
For Greece, pioneering work in the field of physical anthropology was done by J.
Lawrence Angel, who from the late 1930s analysed skeletal material not only to deter
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mine biological sex but also to gain information on age (mentioned earlier), diet, health,
and even family relationships for ancient Greek populations (see especially Angel 1939;
for recent advances see Schepartz, Fox and Bourbou 2009).
Despite a general lack of skeletal data, patterns in grave goods and even grave markers
can be indicative of the assertion of gender identities at death. In Geometric Athens,
some male graves were marked with a large krater, and female ones with an amphora
(Morris 1987, Whitley 1991, Strömberg 1993: 81). At Pithekoussai, the very poor state of
preservation of bone material meant almost no skeletal analysis was possible (although
see Becker 1995), but patterns in fibulae distribution may suggest gender distinctions. Of
the wide range of bronze and iron fibula types at the site, one, the ‘serpentine’ fibula, was
usually found as a single item deposited on the chest of the deceased (possibly as a cloak-
fastener), while the others were found in mixtures, multiples, and often at the shoulders
of the deceased (in the manner of dress fasteners). Although there are issues of age to
consider for these assemblages since many of the graves are also those of children, nev
ertheless gender may well be a factor in this distribution (Buchner 1975, Ridgway 1992,
Shepherd 1999). The same may tentatively be suggested for archaic burials at Syracuse
in Sicily: some more ostentatious burials at the site include deep fossa graves with enor
mous decorative bronze nails (probably from a decayed coffin or bier), while other graves
have high quality monolithic sarcophagi. The latter often have sets of dress pins amongst
the grave goods, but pins and nails only exceptionally occur in the same grave (Shepherd
1995: 69, with references). One explanation for this might be the parallel definition of
gender identities through differing burial methods and goods, here more visible than
elsewhere thanks to the wealth of the graves. Indeed, in general the relative wealth of
Greek graves identified as ‘female’ might suggest parallel rather than hierarchical gender
definitions at death, in contrast to what we understand about the general position of
women in ancient Greek society. Even if such display was aimed at highlighting the status
of the wider (male) kinship group (as possibly in the case of the ‘Rich Athenian Lady’),
women could be accorded equivalent rather than subordinate treatment at death.
Ideally, of course, skeletal material and other burial evidence (including not only grave
goods, but also factors such as burial method and orientation) should be independently
analysed and the results subsequently compared in order to assess the role of gender
identities in (p. 548) the formulation of burials. Agneta Strömberg's study of Iron Age
Athenian burials extrapolates grave good patterns from osteologically sexed burials to
those without bone remains and proposes not only that gender distinctions can be deter
mined, but also that they become more visible in tandem with assertions of social status
through grave wealth, and that the latter was an overarching priority (Strömberg 1993).
She also makes the point that gender-specific goods are rarely associated with practical
activities and separate spheres of action for men and women, an observation which may
be applicable to other Greek cemeteries also.
At the Pantanello Necropolis, a rural cemetery associated with the Greek settlement of
Metaponto in southern Italy (Carter 1998), recent and extensive independent analyses of
grave goods and skeletal remains have been carried out and some gender-specific pat
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terns in goods observed. They are more successful in the identification of females than
males (Henneberg and Henneberg 1998; Morter 1998: 465–69), but to some extent con
firm traditional assumptions about what constitutes ‘male’ and ‘female’ identities at
death, such as the inclusion (respectively) of strigils and mirrors amongst the grave
goods. With the possible exception of the lebes gamikos, however, vase shapes showed lit
tle gender-specificity (Hall 1998: 582–6). That said, a few graves were more surprising:
these included T. 231 (late 5th–early 4th century), where the occupant was identified
skeletally as male, but was accompanied by ‘female’ fibulae; T. 292 (late 5th century),
where a ‘probable’ male had fibulae, pins, tweezers, a bead, and an alablastron, although
the option of rejecting the more tentative osteological assessment of male in favour of the
strongly female-patterned grave goods is aired; females could be buried with strigils, but
of different type (and female use of strigils is in fact well attested: see Prohászka 1998:
801 with references), as could children.
These are cases with the best possible skeletal evidence, but similarly equivocal assem
blages appear elsewhere. At Olynthos, in northern Greece, strigils were found in the
graves of both adults and children, and Robinson found six cases of strigils deposited in
association with jewellery/mirrors (Graves 69 (child), 248 (child), 257, 266 (child)) and/or
loomweights (Graves 227, 264). Strigils also occurred in graves whose occupant was
identified as female, while ‘female’ jewellery was found in graves of males (Robinson
1942: 182; but compare also Graves 71 and 311, both with a strigil and a ring, and Grave
295, identified as a male with a ring and a bracelet). The skeletal analysis carried out on
the Olynthos skeletons was limited (about a sixth of the sample of 600 graves: cf. Angel in
Robinson 1942: 211–27), but overall grave goods were not obviously gendered. Although
more detailed analysis might reveal some patterns, as Robinson suggests it is likely that
gender identity was not a significant factor in burial at Olynthos.
Indeed, the suppression of gender identities at death—at least in terms of the non-perish
able accessories of burial—could form as much part of the burial system of a particular
state as their articulation. For example, in the North Cemetery at Corinth, the archaic
and classical burials do not readily fall into categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’. As is often
the case, the best evidence comes from the grave goods, which here as for many sites in
the Greek world relies on jewellery (especially dress pins) for the identification of females
and ‘male’ items such as strigils for men (Blegen et al. 1964: 70, 83); yet even this evi
dence was limited to only 71 graves of 403 of archaic to Roman date. Palmer (Blegen et
al. 1964: 70) notes that at Corinth cosmetic boxes (pyxides), elsewhere associated with
women, were usually found in the graves of children, another indication that concepts of
gender- and/or age-specific grave goods could vary between different areas of Greece.
Sexing of skeletal remains was limited to analysis of 14 skulls and, although one identi
fied as male was accompanied by a strigil (Grave 277), the remainder (p. 549) could not be
additionally distinguished by their grave goods (Blegen et al. 1964: 70 with nn. 23 and
25). Given the broad uniformity of the Corinthian graves in terms of type and goods, gen
der and other possible social identities (status, for example) appear to have been largely
denied at death.
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Elsewhere, women become more visible in certain periods. Athens and Attica are
renowned for the high quality sculptured grave markers which were produced in the late
archaic and classical periods. For the 6th century BC images of males dominate, whether
in the form of kouroi (standing nude male figures) or, more commonly, stelai (gravestones)
bearing the image of an idealized, often young, male as an athlete or warrior (Kurtz and
Boardman 1971: 84–9). After a lull for much of the 5th century, when elaborate grave
markers disappeared (possibly due to sumptuary legislation: see Leader 1997, with refer
ences), they reappeared c.430 BC and continued throughout the 4th century. This time,
however, women were much more prominent, often in the group scenes which likewise
form a contrast with the usually solitary figures of the archaic period. This shift in repre
sentation suggests an altered social position for Athenian women, and one which has
been associated with changing political circumstances and in particular Perikles’ citizen
ship law of 451/50 BC, whereby a citizen had to have an Athenian mother as well as an
Athenian father (Stears 1995, Osborne 1996, Leader 1997). The Athenian oikos, or family
and household unit, thus may have gained a new significance in which women held an al
tered role which—when disrupted by death—warranted commemoration on elaborate
monuments which, while technically private constructions, were displayed in public con
texts such as the roadsides leading out of Athens.
Intriguingly, the Pantanello Necropolis has also revealed evidence for another manifesta
tion of gender identity which sometimes occurs in burial contexts, namely spatial distinc
tions. Instead of the expected equal numbers of adult males and females, women outnum
bered men by a ratio of approximately two to one, especially in the period 500–300 BC
and for the age range 15–49 years (Henneberg and Henneberg 1998: 509). One possible
explanation is that males who died in their prime were accorded some special burial area,
yet to be identified (Carter 1998: 145–8). Such a situation might find parallels in biases in
commemoration such as in the gravestones of archaic Athens noted above or the demo
sion sema (public burial ground) of Athens, where the war dead and other significant
male citizens were interred, but equally the discovery of similar imbalances at other Ital
ian sites (Osteria dell’Osa: Bietti Sestieri 1992: 99) might also raise the question of the in
fluence of contact with other groups and cultures—the subject of the next section of this
chapter.
When in Rome: Ethnic Identities and the An

cient Greek Burial Record
Recent work on concepts of ethnicity in the past, including the Greek world, has high
lighted the pitfalls of traditional methods of identifying different ethnic groups by materi
al culture, and especially on the basis of burial evidence. The degree of significance
which should be placed on material culture has been questioned (see especially Hall
1997), but while the analysis of burial evidence in ethnic terms needs to be a more com
plicated and subtle procedure than in the past, nevertheless it has the potential to pro
vide valuable insights into (p. 550) ancient Greek societies. The characterization of ethnic
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Ancient Identities:
identity as an actively constructed phenomenon rather than an inherited or ascribed one

is an important advance in that we are now aware that, although identities declared at
death may disguise some ‘realities’ (such as intermarriage: discussed later), ultimately
they may provide a more nuanced image of the priorities of a given group.
The ancient Greeks themselves seem to have viewed burial methods as one way in which
different groups could be differentiated on an ‘ethnic’ basis, which encompassed not only
distinctions between Greeks and non-Greeks, but also between the Greeks themselves, of
ten at the civic level of polis (city-state) identity. Thus, for example, the 5th century BC
historian Herodotus (3.38) could use the story of the Persian King Darius’ inquiry into the
treatment of deceased parents, contrasting the reactions of the Greeks and Callatians,
the former horrified by the idea of eating dead progenitors and the latter equally shocked
at the notion of burning them, to demonstrate the role of the customs of one's native land.
Herodotus’ near contemporary Thucydides (1.8) identified a significant number of Cari
ans when the island of Delos was purified for sacred purposes and cleared of all burials,
asserting that it was obvious ‘from the type of weapons buried with the bodies and from
the method of burial, which was the same as that still used from Caria’—probably an in
correct identification (cf. Cook 1955), but still one indicative of the emphasis and reliance
Greeks could place on the signalling of ethnic identity through burial. The Athenians,
meanwhile, could be distinguished from other Greeks and non-Greeks through their use
of the demosion sema, to which the war dead were transported for burial, an exception
being made only in the case of those who fell at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, who
were buried on the battlefield in recognition of their extraordinary valour (Thucydides
2.34).
The literary record is distinctly scanty, but greater support for the role of ethnic identity,
especially at the level of the polis, comes from the relative coherence in archaeological
terms of the distinctive burial systems maintained by different Greek states throughout
their histories (for examples, see Kurtz and Boardman 1971). While these could certainly
alter over time—for example, Athenian customs shifted between cremation and inhuma
tion and in the classical period both were acceptable, while on Rhodes a broad shift from
cremation (for adults) to inhumation was made around 550 BC (Gates 1983)—neverthe
less broad subscription on the part of burying populations to local customs is a distinctive
feature of Greek necropoleis. The range of practices was of course not unlimited and
overlaps in general practice could certainly occur between different states: enchytrismos,
for example, was common to many areas as a method for dealing with the high number of
infant deaths. Nevertheless, by drawing on a repertoire of methods relating to disposal,
grave goods, and commemoration, different Greek states could forge burial systems
which could contribute to particular state identities and within which there was still room
for the variation necessary to signal other identities, such as age, gender, or status.
Exactly how actively such distinctions were pursued, however, is a matter for debate.
While they could obviously be used to mark differences at ethnic and civic levels (or, in
deed the reverse, namely links via similarities), other factors such as ritual, economic
wealth and readiness to dispose of it, and practicality could likewise potentially play a
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role in the formulation of practices, and the broad shifts in customs evident at many sites
indicate they may well have done so, in addition to the possibility that longevity of specif
ic practices played a lesser role in ethnic identity than might be expected.
One arena in which differences in burial do seem to have been very actively ex
(p. 551)
ploited is in the Greek settlements of Sicily and southern Italy, founded in the later 8th
and 7th centuries BC. Here the burial customs have very often in the past been catego
rized as duplications of those of the state of origin of the founding party as named in the
literary texts, notably Thucydides (6.3–5), on the assumption of nostalgic maintenance of
homeland practices. Closer examination, however, shows that differences outweigh the
similarities to the extent that the customs of the new states differ as much from those of
the historical founding city as those of any other Greek state might. Thus, for example, in
archaic Syracuse in Sicily (8th–6th centuries BC), the use of inhumation in a monolithic
sarcophagus does at first glance appear to have affinities with burial systems in the moth
er-city Corinth, where the sarcophagus was commonplace. Yet at Syracuse the sarcopha
gus increasingly became a receptacle reserved for the elite, with the majority of the
(adult) burying population being deposited in a rock-cut trench, or fossa, grave. Mean
while, enchytrismos was very extensively used for small children, at least until the 6th
century, but the evidence for its use at Corinth is more restricted and also more tenuous;
Syracusan graves have more varied goods and were often lavishly furnished in compari
son with their Corinthian counterparts, where metalwork and similar luxuries are rarer
and pottery regularly included a cup and a jug; and while Corinthian cadavers were
arranged in a contracted position until the mid-6th century, Syracusan ones always lay
fully extended in the grave (see further Blegen et al. 1964, Dickey 1992, Shepherd 1995).
Rather than duplicating the practices of Corinth, Syracusans actively sought to create a
‘Syracusan’ burial system, which contributed to the distinctive cultural profile of that
state.
The complexities of such constructed burial systems and their ‘ethnic’ declarations in the
Greek world may extend still further and the burial record should not be viewed as neces
sarily a direct reflection of the ethnic affiliations of a given group: these may arguably ap
pear in more idealized and even simplified form than in the living population, much as
can be the case for social distinctions where levelling ideologies can be applied at death.
For the Greek world, too, issues of ethnicity in the burial record become particularly per
tinent where we have good evidence—or at least good reason to believe—that populations
were heterogeneous in nature. We have come a long way since straightforward correla
tions of aspects of material culture such as burials with specific population groups could
be made in order to ‘prove’ movement of peoples. The long-standing theory of the Dorian
invasion of southern Greece which prompted the fall of the Mycenaean palatial system,
for example, took a hard knock when it was pointed out that one of the mainstays of the
argument—the replacement of multiple burial in chamber tombs with single inhumations
in cist graves, a sign of a ‘new’ population—is seriously undermined by the occurrence of
single burials prior to the supposed invasion (Snodgrass 2000: 314–17). Instead, the
change in burial method is better seen as an internal development rather than one requir
ing the intervention of outsiders, a view applied to other archaeological features related
Page 10 of 18

Ancient Identities:
to the ‘invasion’ as scholarly scepticism regarding this event grew (for discussion see Hall
1997: 114–28, with references). Yet such advances need not wholly undermine the value
of burial evidence as ethnically significant: rather, we need to be more aware of the man
ner in which ethnic identity may be manipulated at death.
Two particular case studies may illustrate the intricacies of tracing individuals of differ
ent origins and the extent to which ethnic identities may or may not have been manipulat
ed at death. One is that of classical Athens, where inscriptional and other evidence indi
cates (p. 552) a relatively high non-Athenian population, particularly those classed as met
ics (resident foreigners). Of the epitaphs known from Athens, some 40% relate to individ
uals of non-Athenian origin, a significantly high proportion which attests to the desire of
these individuals to engage in this type of ‘Athenian’ behaviour (see further Meyer 1993).
Yet while the inscriptions may identify the occupant(s) of the graves as outsiders, the
graves and monuments themselves are less revealing of variant identities. A good exam
ple is the 4th century peribolos (funerary enclosure containing a number of burials) of
Agathon and Sosikrates of Herakleia Pontica (Garland 1982: 136–8) in the Kerameikos
cemetery of Athens. It is positioned, like similarly lavish graves, along the Street of the
Tombs leading out of Athens through the Kerameikos and is adjacent to the well-known
peribolos of Dexileos, from the Attic deme of Thorikos (for periboloi generally, see Gar
land 1982). The structure is topped with stelai and sculptures, again typical of expensive
Athenian graves of the late 5th and 4th centuries where high-quality carved stonework
abounds. Nor is it an exception: in fact, the Kerameikos reveals itself through inscriptions
as a most cosmopolitan cemetery, but this is less evident from the nature of the graves
themselves. Another extravagant example is the peribolos of Nikeratos and his son
Polyxenos (c.330), metics from Histria in the Black Sea, found at Piraeaus, the port area
of Athens which had a high metic population. Yet how far the desire to assert ‘Athenian’
affinities was a primary motivation in the design and expenditure of these graves is ques
tionable: quite apart from the revealing inscriptions, the role of these tombs in asserting
status and wealth is surely undeniable, whether for Athenians or non-Athenians, and it is
entry into this competitive arena which may have prompted resident foreigners to com
mission such graves. Not for nothing did Demetrios of Phaleron have to curb such expen
diture through funerary sumptuary legislation at the end of the 4th century (Cicero De
Legibus 2.66–7; on wealth disposal see also Morris 1992: 128–49).
Nowhere in the field of classical archaeology is the issue of ethnic identity and its rela
tionship with the archaeological record more debated at present than in the context of
Greek settlement overseas, including that in Sicily and southern Italy mentioned earlier.
Here, too, direct correlations between burial and ethnic groups have frequently been
made, in particular to assert the absence of indigenous groups in Greek cities (other than
perhaps as slaves). More recent scholarship, more amenable to the idea of mixed popula
tions than that of the 19th and earlier 20th centuries, has nevertheless often taken much
the same approach, claiming mixed populations at indigenous sites where ‘Greek’ burials
also appear and at Greek sites where grave goods of indigenous origin or some other sign
of ‘indigenous’ practice is observed. The latter is particularly true in the case of the Ital
ian-style fibulae in graves at Greek sites noted earlier: these have been taken as a sign of
Page 11 of 18

Ancient Identities:
intermarriage between Greek males and females from the local populations, a situation
which may well have existed but which is not demonstrable via these grave goods which,
apart from their status as luxury items (and therefore potentially primarily status, rather
than ethnic, indicators), are often found in quantities in the graves of young children,
rather than in those of adult females (Buchner 1975, Coldstream 1993; cf. Shepherd 1999).
The evidence for indigenous burial methods (as opposed to goods) at Greek sites in Sicily
and Italy is distinctly weak, but identifications of ‘natives’ are sometimes made on the ba
sis of contracted burials in graves of otherwise Greek appearance. One might ask, howev
er, whether such graves might not equally be those of, say, Corinthians desirous of assert
ing their own traditions (Carter 1998, see further Shepherd 2005).
(p. 553) Conclusions

Age, gender, and ethnicity are ‘horizontal’ social identities which were critical to the for
mulation of burial systems in the ancient Greek world, although the degree of their poten
cy could vary significantly with time and place. In the past, these factors have often been
overlooked, underestimated, or misunderstood in analyses of ancient Greek burials and
cemeteries, and other social identities (such as status) have sometimes received more at
tention as interpretative frameworks. Awareness of the complexities of identity in burials
can provide us with much more detailed insights into how ancient Greek societies func
tioned and where their priorities lay. What is clear however—even from this brief survey
—is that although these different aspects of identity are often treated rather separately
(as indeed here), it is in fact difficult to disentangle one from the other and that some or
all could operate in combination to produce nuanced identities for individuals and groups
represented through mortuary practices. Moreover, the role of status assertions remains
extremely important: many of the case studies of the declaration of particular identities
noted here arguably do so in tandem with the assertion (or suppression) of status, and
the issue of the role of status in highlighting other related identities is potentially one of
great significance in the study of ancient Greek burial.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Sarah Tarlow and Liv Nilsson Stutz for their kind invitation to con
tribute to this volume and also for their editorial help and patience, and also the anony
mous reviewers for their valuable suggestions.
Suggested Further Reading
Suggested Further Reading
Beaumont, L. 2003. The Changing Face of Childhood. In: J. Neils and J. H. Oakley (eds)
Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past. New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press: 59–83.
Page 12 of 18

Ancient Identities:
An interesting example of the recent investigations of the treatment of children at death.
Blegen, C. W., Palmer, H., and Young, R. S. 1964. Corinth XIII: The North Cemetery.
Princeton, N.J. : American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Important excavation report on Corinth.
Carter, J. C. 1998. The Chora of Metaponto: The Necropoleis. Austin, Tex.: University of
Texas Press.
This report on the Pantanello Necropolis at Metaponto in Italy is a very important exam
ple of how weighty excavation reports are often among the best studies, incorporating a
range of scientific as well as more traditional archaeological techniques to elucidate the
social constructs of the city (in this case, not least evidence that individuals in plots of
graves were, as often suspected, in fact blood relations).
Grossman, J. B. 2007. Forever Young: An Investigation of the Depictions of Children on

Classical Attic Funerary Monuments. In: A. Cohen and J. B. Rutter (eds) Constructions of
Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy. Hesperia Suppl. 41: 309–22.
(p. 554) An interesting example of the recent investigations of the treatment of children at
death.
Garland, R. 1982. A First Catalogue of Attic Peribolos Tombs. Annual of the British School
at Athens 77: 125–76.
A study of periboloi tombs of the 4th and 5th centuries and their markers.
Gates, C. 1983. From Cremation to Inhumation: Burial Practices at Ialysos and Kameiros
during the Mid-Archaic Period, ca 625–525 bc. Occasional Paper 11, Institute of Archaeol
ogy. Los Angeles: University of California.
A useful analysis of old excavations on Rhodes.
Hall, J. 1997. Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ethnic identity and its relationship with the archaeological record is a topic of much de
bate at present. This book provides an interesting discussion of the theoretical issues sur
rounding ethnicity.
Houby-Nielsen, S. 2000. Child Burials in Ancient Athens. In: J. SofaerDerevenski (ed.)

Children and Material Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 151–66.
This is an interesting example of the recent investigations of the treatment of children at

death.
Kurtz, D., and Boardman, J. 1971. Greek Burial Customs. London: Thames and Hudson.
Page 13 of 18

Ancient Identities:
Although it is getting a bit old now and would benefit from updating, this impressive and
concise survey book remains the classic and best general introduction to ancient Greek
burials.
Leader, R. E. 1997. In Death Not Divided: Gender, Family, and State on Classical Athenian
Grave Stelae. American Journal of Archaeology 101: 683–99.
A study of gender relations as depicted on sculpted Athenian grave stelai of the 5th and
4th centuries and their wider implications for our understanding of Athenian society.
Liston, M. A., and Papadopoulos, J. K. 2004. The ‘Rich Athenian Lady’ was Pregnant: The
Anthropology of a Geometric Tomb Reconsidered. Hesperia 73: 7–38.
An interesting example of the kind of intriguing additional insights into the lives of early
Athenians that can be provided by the application of new scientific techniques.
Morris, I. 1987. Burial and Ancient Society: The Rise of the Greek City State. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Many of the studies which deal with the issues addressed here (age, gender, ethnicity)
are, unsurprisingly, Athenian-based, and this book is one of the most important works.
Parker Pearson, M. 2003. The Archaeology of Death and Burial. Stroud: Sutton Publishing
Ltd.
This work provides a very good and useful general introduction to the complexities of
analysing mortuary evidence.
Robinson, D. M. 1942. Necrolynthia: A Study in Greek Burial Customs and Anthropology.

Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Press.
Important excavation report on Olynthos.
Shepherd, G. 1995. The Pride of Most Colonials: Burial and Religion in the Sicilian
Colonies. Acta Hyperborea 6: 51–82.
—— 1999. Fibulae and Females: Intermarriage in the Western Greek Colonies and the Evi
dence from the Cemeteries. In: G. R. Tsetskhladze (ed.) Ancient Greeks West and East.
Leiden: Brill: 267–300.
—— 2007. Poor Little Rich Kids? Status and Selection in Archaic Western Greece. In: S.
Crawford and G. Shepherd (eds) Children, Childhood and Society. Oxford: Archaeopress:
93–106.
These three references provide an insight into the enormous archaic cemeteries of Greek
Sicily, with an analysis of the cemetery material which was largely excavated in the late
19th and early 20th centuries.
Page 14 of 18

Ancient Identities:
Additional References
Angel, J. L. 1939. Geometric Athenians. In: R. S. Young (ed.) Late Geometric Graves and a
Seventh Century Well. Hesperia Suppl. II. Athens: American School of Classical Studies at
Athens: 236–46.
Arnold, B. 2006. Gender and Archaeological Mortuary Analysis. In: S. M. Nelson (ed.)
Handbook of Gender Archaeology. Lanham, Md.: AltaMira Press: 137–70.
—— and Wicker, N. L. (eds) 2001. Gender and the Archaeology of Death. Walnut Creek,
Calif.: AltaMira Press.
Beaumont, L. 1994. Constructing a Methodology for the Interpretation of Childhood Age

in Classical Athenian Iconography. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 13 (2): 81–96.
Becker, M. 1995. Human Skeletal Remains from the Pre-colonial Emporion of Pithekous
sai on Ischia (NA): Culture Contact in Italy from the Early VIII to the II Century BC. In: N.
Christie (ed.) Settlement and Economy in Italy 1500 bc–ad 1500: Papers of the Fifth Con
ference of Italian Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books: 273–81.
Bietti Sestieri, A. M. 1992. The Iron Age Community of Osteria dell’Osa. Cambridge: Cam
bridge University Press.
Brumfiel, E. M. 2006. Methods in Feminist and Gender Archaeology: A Feeling for Differ
ence—and Likeness. In: S. M. Nelson (ed.) Handbook of Gender Archaeology. Lanham,
Md.: AltaMira Press: 31–58.
Buchner, G. 1975. Nuovi aspetti e problemi posti degli scavi di Pitecusa con particolari
considerazioni sulle oreficerie de stile orientalizzante antico. In: Contribution à l’étude de
la société eubeénes. Naples: Cahiers de Centre Jean Bérard II: 59–86.
—— and Ridgway, D. 1993. Pithekoussai I. Monumenti Antichi Serie Monografica IV.

Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider Editore.
Coldstream, N. 1993. Mixed Marriages at the Frontiers of the Early Greek World. Oxford
Journal of Archaeology 12(1): 89–107.
Cook, R. M. 1955. Thucydides as Archaeologist. Annual of the British School at Athens 50:
266–70.
Dickey, K. 1992. Corinthian Burial Customs, ca. 1100–550 BC. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Universi
ty Microfilms International.
Engels, D. 1980. The Problems of Infanticide in the Greco-Roman World. Classical Philolo
gy 75: 112–20.
—— 1984. The Use of Historical Demography in Ancient History. Classical Quarterly

34(ii): 386–93.
Page 15 of 18

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Garland, R. 2001. The Greek Way of Death. 2nd edition. London: Duckworth.
Golden, M. 1981. Demography and the Exposure of Girls at Athens. Phoenix 35: 316–31.
—— 1990. Children and Childhood in Classical Athens. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins
Press.
Hall, J. 1998. Grave Goods. In: J. C. Carter (ed.) The Chora of Metaponto: The
Necropoleis. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press: 563–90.
Harris, W. V. 1982. The Theoretical Possibility of Extensive Infanticide in the Graeco-Ro

man World. Classical Quarterly 32(i): 114–16.
Henneberg, M. J., and Henneberg, R. J. 1998. Biological Characteristics of the Population

Based on Analysis of Skeletal Remains. In: J. C. Carter (ed.), The Chora of Metaponto: The
Necropoleis. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press: 503–62.
Hillson, S. 2009. The World's Largest Infant Cemetery and Its Potential for Studying
Growth and Development. In: L. A. Schepartz, S. C. Fox, and C. Bourbou (eds) New Direc
tions in the Skeletal Biology of Greece. Hesperia Suppl. 43: 137–54.
(p. 556) Lagia, A. 2007. Notions of Childhood in the Classical Polis: Evidence from the
Bioarchaelogical Record. In: A. Cohen and J. B. Rutter (eds) Constructions of Childhood in
Ancient Greece and Italy. Hesperia Suppl. 41: 293–306.
Little, L. M. 1999. Babies in Well G5:3: Preliminary Results and Future Analysis. Ameri
can Journal of Archaeology 103: 284.
Meyer, E.A. 1993. Epitaphs and Citizenship in Classical Athens. Journal of Hellenic Stud
ies 113: 99–121.
Morris, I. 1992. Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.
Morter, J. 1998. Database Structure and Statistical Analyses. In: J. C. Carter (ed.) The
Chora of Metaponto: The Necropoleis. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press: 455–74.
Oakley, J. 2003. Death and the Child. In: J. Neils and J. H. Oakley (eds) Coming of Age in
Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past. New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press: 163–94.
Orsi, P. 1913. Contributi alla storia della fibula greca. Opuscula Archaeologica Oscari
Montelio Septuagenario dicata. Holms: I. Haeggstroem.
Osborne, R. 1996. Funerary Monuments, the Democratic Citizen and the Representation
of Women. In: M. Sakellariou (ed.) Démocratie athénienne et culture. Athens: Académie
d’Athènes: 229–42.
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Papadopoulos, J. K. 2000. Skeletons in Wells: Towards an Archaeology of Social Exclusion

in the Ancient Greek World. In: J. Hubert (ed.) Madness, Disability and Social Exclusion:
The Archaeology and Anthropology of ‘Difference’. London: Routledge: 96–118.
Patterson, C. 1985. ‘Not Worth the Rearing’: The Causes of Infant Exposure in Ancient
Greece. Transactions of the American Philological Association 115: 103–23.
Pomeroy, S. 1993. Infanticide in Hellenistic Greece. In: A. Cameron and A. Kuhrt (eds)
Images of Women in Antiquity. Revised edition. London: Routledge.
Prohászka, M. 1998. Metal Objects and Coins. In: J. C. Carter (ed.) The Chora of Metapon
to: The Necropoleis. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press: 787–834.
Ridgway, D. 1992. The First Western Greeks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rotroff, S. I. 1999. The Artifacts from Well G5:3 and Some Conclusions Concerning the
Deposit. American Journal of Archaeology 103: 284–5.
Schepartz, L. A., Fox, S. C., and Bourbou, C. (eds) 2009. New Directions in the Skeletal Bi
ology of Greece. Hesperia Suppl. 43.
Scott, E. 2001. Killing the Female? Archaeological Narratives of Infanticide. In B. Arnold

and N. L. Wicker (eds) Gender and the Archaeology of Death. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Al
taMira Press: 1–21.
Shepherd, G. 2005. Dead Men Tell No Tales: Ethnic Diversity in Sicilian Colonies and the
Evidence of the Cemeteries. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24: 115–36.
Snodgrass, A. M. 2000. The Dark Age of Greece. Revised edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
Snyder, L. M. 1999. The Animal Bones from Well G5:3: Domestic Debris, Industrial De
bris, and Possible Evidence for the Sacrifice of Domestic Dogs in Late Hellenistic Athens.
American Journal of Archaeology 103: 284.
Soteriades, G. 1934. Anaskaphe Marathonos. Praktika: 29–38.
Stears, K. 1995. Dead Women's Society: Constructing Female Gender in Classical Athen
ian Funerary Sculpture. In: N. Spencer (ed.) Time, Tradition and Society in Greek Archae
ology: Bridging the ‘Great Divide’. London: Routledge, 109–31.
Strömberg, A. 1993. Male or Female? A Methodological Study of Grave Gifts as

(p. 557)
Sex-Indicators in Iron Age Burials from Athens. Sävedalen: Paul Åströms Förlag.
Weiss, K. M. 1972. On the Systematic Bias in Skeletal Sexing. American Journal of Physi
cal Anthropology 37: 239–50.
—— 1973. Demographic Models for Anthropology. New York: Memoirs of the Society for
American Archaeology 27.
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Whitley, J. 1991. Style and Society in Dark Age Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Young, R. S. 1939. Late Geometric Graves and a Seventh Century Well in the Agora. Hes
peria Suppl. II. Athens: American School of Classical Studies.
—— 1942. Graves from the Phaleron Cemetery. American Journal of Archaeology 46: 23–
57.
Gillian Shepherd
Gillian Shepherd is Lecturer in Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Director of the

A.D. Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe Uni
versity, Australia. Her research interests lie in the Greek settlement of Sicily and
South Italy, especially with regard to burial customs and sanctuaries.
Page 18 of 18

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Age and Inclusion: Identifying the Young

The question of infanticide, especially of females by exposure, as a method of disposing of

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The Battle of the Sexes? Gender Identity in An­

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Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

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When in Rome: Ethnic Identities and the An­

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identity as an actively constructed phenomenon rather than an inherited or ascribed one

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(p. 553) Conclusions

Suggested Further Reading

Suggested Further Reading

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

An interesting example of the recent investigations of the treatment of children at death.

Important excavation report on Corinth.

Grossman, J. B. 2007. Forever Young: An Investigation of the Depictions of Children on

A useful analysis of old excavations on Rhodes.

Houby-Nielsen, S. 2000. Child Burials in Ancient Athens. In: J. SofaerDerevenski (ed.)

This is an interesting example of the recent investigations of the treatment of children at

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

Robinson, D. M. 1942. Necrolynthia: A Study in Greek Burial Customs and Anthropology.

Important excavation report on Olynthos.

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

Beaumont, L. 1994. Constructing a Methodology for the Interpretation of Childhood Age

—— and Ridgway, D. 1993. Pithekoussai I. Monumenti Antichi Serie Monografica IV.

—— 1984. The Use of Historical Demography in Ancient History. Classical Quarterly

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

Harris, W. V. 1982. The Theoretical Possibility of Extensive Infanticide in the Graeco-Ro­

Henneberg, M. J., and Henneberg, R. J. 1998. Biological Characteristics of the Population

Morris, I. 1992. Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge:

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

Papadopoulos, J. K. 2000. Skeletons in Wells: Towards an Archaeology of Social Exclusion

Scott, E. 2001. Killing the Female? Archaeological Narratives of Infanticide. In B. Arnold

Soteriades, G. 1934. Anaskaphe Marathonos. Praktika: 29–38.

Strömberg, A. 1993. Male or Female? A Methodological Study of Grave Gifts as

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

Gillian Shepherd is Lecturer in Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Director of the

Subscriber: Universidad de los Andes - Sistema de Bibliotecas; date: 04 August 2020

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