DEATH RITE

any of the ceremonial acts or customs employed at the time of death and burial. Throughout history and in every human society, the disposal of the dead has been given special significance. The practice was originally motivated not by hygienic considerations but by ideas entertained by primitive peoples concerning human nature and destiny. This conclusion is clearly evident from the fact that the disposal of the dead from the earliest times was of a ritual kind. Paleolithic peoples, such as the Neanderthals and later groups, not only buried their dead but provided them with food, weapons, and other equipment, thereby implying a belief that the dead still needed such things in the grave. This very significant practice can be traced back to great antiquity, possibly to about 50,000 BC. The ritual burial of the dead, which is thus attested from the very dawn of human culture and which has been practiced in most parts of the world, stems from an instinctive inability or refusal on the part of man to accept death as the definitive end of human life. Despite the horrifying evidence of the physical decomposition caused by death, the belief has persisted that something of the individual person survives the experience of dying. In contrast, the idea of personal extinction through death is a sophisticated concept that was unknown until the 6th century BC, when it appeared in the metaphysical thought of Indian Buddhism; it did not find expression in the ancient Mediterranean world before its exposition by the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341270 BC). The belief that human beings survive death in some form has profoundly influenced the thoughts, emotions, and actions of mankind. The belief occurs in all religions, past and present, and decisively conditions their evaluations of man and his place in the universe. Mortuary rituals and funerary customs reflect these evaluations; they represent also the practical measures taken to assist the dead to achieve their destiny and sometimes to save the living from the dreaded molestation of those whom death had transformed into a different state of being. Additional reading E. Bendann, Death Customs: An Analytical Study of Burial Rites (1930, reprinted 1974), is a useful account of relevant ethnological material. P.C. Rosenblatt, Grief and Mourning in Cross-Cultural Perspective (1976); and R. Huntington, Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Rituals (1979), are two more-recent anthropological studies. Four works by S.G.F. Brandon are helpful: Man and His Destiny in the Great Religions (1962), with extensive bibliographies and documentation; The Judgment of the Dead (1967), a comprehensive study of the subject; Man and God in Art and Ritual (1972), a profusely illustrated study that deals with mortuary rituals, conceptions of burial, and funerary iconography; and The Personification of Death in Some Ancient Religions, Bull. John Rylands Library, 43:317385 (1961). J. Maringer, Vorgeschichtliche Religion (1956; Eng. trans., The Gods of Prehistoric Man, 1960), discusses Paleolithic and Neolithic burial practices. E.A.W. Budge, The Mummy, 2nd ed. (1894, reprinted 1974), is a handbook on Egyptian funerary archaeology. J. Zandee, Death As an Enemy, According to Ancient Egyptian Conceptions (1960, reissued 1977), also includes Coptic evidence. M. Lamm, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning, rev. ed. (1972); and J. Jeremias, Heiligengrber in Jesu Umwelt (Mt. 23, 29; Lk. 11, 47) (1958), an account of Jewish mortuary beliefs, are valuable studies. Sources focusing on Greek and Roman civilizations include E. Rohde, Psyche: Seelenkult und Unsterblichkeitsglaube der Griechen, 8th ed. (1921; Eng. trans., Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks, 1925, reprinted 1972); D.C. Kurtz, Greek Burial Customs (1971); F.V.A. Cumont, After Life in Roman Paganism (1922); J.M.C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World (1971); and A.K. Fortescue, The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, 6th ed. rev. by J.B. O'Connell (1937). The following are also recommended: R. Eklund, Life Between Death and Resurrection According to Islam (1941); J.D.C. Pavry, The Zoroastrian Doctrine of a Future Life: From Death to the Individual Judgment, 2nd ed. (1929, reissued 1975); J.J. Modi, The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees (1922, reprinted 1979; 2nd ed., 1937); J.A. Dubois, Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, 3rd ed. (1906, reissued 1968), invaluable for its descriptions; M. Granet, La Civilisation Chinoise (1929; Eng. trans., Chinese Civilization, 1930, reprinted 1974); La Religion des Chinois, 2nd ed. (1951); P. Aris, Western Attitudes Toward Death: From the Middle Ages to the Present (1974), as reflected in ceremonies, customs, literature, and art; W.K.L. Clarke (ed.), Liturgy and Worship: A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion (1932); T.S.R. Boase, Death in the Middle Ages: Mortality, Judgment, Remembrance (1972); and E. Panofsky, Tomb Sculpture (1964), an illustrated survey of funerary iconography from ancient Egypt to the Renaissance.