Oct 05 2008
From Funeral Oration to Eulogy
Our contemporary funeral eulogies, epitaphs and elegies originated in ancient Greece thousands years ago. They are all derivations of Greek funeral oration that was a formal speech presented when somebody passed away.
Ancients used funeral orations to remember the dead and his deeds. They were known at the times of Odyssey as we find some verses that Achilles dedicate to the funeral of Patroclus.
However, funeral orations became an official ritual in ancient Greece much later. Sources credit for this Solon, who was a famous poet, statesman and lawmaker in 7th century B.C. in Athens. He decided to make a part of funerary customs a special speech for those who died in the wars.
Within a century his decision became a part of the Athenian burial law. Archeologists still find at the ancient Greek burial sites not just depictions of the funerary scenes but even casualty lists.
Since those times many cultures of the world use all kinds of textual expressions to remember the dead, including not only funeral orations but also epitaphs on the monuments, prayers, poems and the like.
