On Hellene's Conduct Of Burying The Fallen In Classical Period

The classical period of Greece was an era of frequent wars.From the twice Greco-Persian Wars in the early 5th century BC to the Battle of Chaeronea in the late fourth century BC,the classical period began with war and ended with war.In the process of rebelling against foreign invasions and internal hegemony wars,many soldiers from Greek city-states were killed in military operations.So Hellene's conduct of burying the fallen were very complex,and the behaviors were relevant to the ideological foundation of Hellene.In general,the Hellene in classical period attached great importance to the remains of their war dead.After a battle,they would found ways to recover their own remains,then held public funeral and various commemorative activity for them.In terms of the collection of the remains of the fallen,the inferior party generally reached their purpose through the conclusion of a temporary truce.However,because of the intricate situation on battlefield and complex conflicts on both sides,in the specific collection process,there will be two special cases in the specific collection process:collected without the agreement of the enemy and collected by enemy or ally.At the same time,there will also be some barbaric phenomena such as stripping corpse's armour or taking enemy's corpses as hostage for negotiation.After the collection was completed,people at that time generally held public funerals and some commemorative activities for the fallen.Although the funeral activities for the fallen were similar in procedure to ordinary funerals in peacetime,but their size,participation,and the details of it implementing,also show the characteristics of it.The ideological foundation of the conduct in the classical period is mainly reflected in the following three aspects:First,it containing Hellene's war concept,including the concept of victory and defeat and the concept of justice.Second,it containing Hellene's concept of funeral,including the thoughts of thin burial,equality concept,and the appreciation of lying to rest.Third,it containing the value concept of Hellene,including heroism,city-state patriotism,and preliminary spirit of contract.These contents became the cultural soil for the implementation of burial behaviors and these behaviors in turn practiced and strengthened the corresponding ideology and culture.This two sides formed a relatively unified organic in the process of practice.