Funeral Oration of Pericles (431 BCE)
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
The occasion for Pericles' speech centered on a ceremony that honored the dead over a three-day period. On the first day, the bodies were laid out on platforms where families could place personal objects to be buried with the dead. On the third day, the remains were placed in cypress coffins, one for each tribe, and carried to the cemetery in nearby Ceramicus. One coffin was left empty to signify those missing in action. Anyone could follow the processional, and after the burial a speech was given by a person of prominence selected by the people. Afterward the families collectively mourned before leaving for home. Later the names of the honored dead were engraved in stone in lists organized by tribe.
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Recognizing that not everyone in his audience supported him, Pericles opens his speech with rhetorical humility, commenting that the actions of the fallen speak for themselves, even if the speaker inadequately honors them. He...
