Pericles' funeral oration, the ritual of burial and the character of the Athenian polis community

20.01.2022 - 16:15 - 17:45

 Dr. Alexandra Eckert, Göttingen

In ancient historical research, Pericles' funeral oration is considered an important source for civic identity in the Athenian democracy of the 5th century BC, even if stylizations by Thucydides cannot be ruled out. With archaeological and epigraphic evidence on the context of the speech and on the ritual of the public burial of the fallen, Alexandra Eckert opens up a perspective on the character of the Athenian polis community that has so far received little attention in research on the speech of the fallen: the participation of groups of people in the polis beyond the citizen community.