Greeks believed that when a person died, his or her vital breath or psyche left the body to enter the palace of Hades, king of the dead. The psyche, once it had fled the body existed merely as a phantom image, which you could sense but not touch. The wall separating the living from the dead was virtually impenetrable.
The idea of punishments for the wicked and rewards for the good did not at first exist. But later, various secret mystery cults began to promise their members a state of blessedness after death. At the same time they thought sinners deserved everlasting punishment.
From an early time, concerns about what happened
after death gave rise to a number of burial rituals.
Western
Asia Minor Marble Funeral Stele
