British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Cultures of Commemoration:
War Memorials Ancient and Modern

The commemoration of war-dead in classical Athens: nature, meanings and contexts

Polly Low (University of Cambridge)

This paper will engage with one of the best-known instances of classical commemoration: the public burial and commemoration of the Athenian war-dead. Its particular aim is to explore the various contexts in which Athenian practice might be understood. How do these burials fit into the picture of Athenian burial and commemoration (particularly other forms of public burial)? How do they relate to the broader Greek picture, and how far can claims of the uniqueness of Athenian practice be sustained? How, finally, do these burials and monuments fit into the physical context of the city?