Ritual sacrifice

Is there any indication in Greek literature of the sacrifice of dead men's wives/concubines after the man's death, such as used to take place in India?

I'm writing an essay and it would be really helpful if there was.

Particually in archaic myths.

There might be a mention in the Illiad that Agnamemnon sacrificed his daughter for good wind when sailing to Troy, or its some other myth. But except for that I don't known, frankly. :embarassed:

I think that the wind was against him, and didn't allow him to set sail to troy. He had to sacrifice his daughter so that the gods allow him to sail.
Great things don't come without personal losses...

I haven't heard of any ritual sacrificies in greek history

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Is there any indication in Greek literature of the sacrifice of dead men's wives/concubines after the man's death, such as used to take place in India?

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I don't do the literature, but I can assure you that there's no indication of it in the Archaeology ... not the Minoans, not the Myceneans

The section in the Iliad is about recieving a favourable wind, it was a great crime though and Artemis snatched her away at the last minute to beceom a priestess, Agamemnon was cursed anyway, so it didn't do him any extra harm.

I was thinking more in terms of Archaic rather than Mycenaean. I'm writing a bit on Lefkandi and it looks rather like the poor girl was sacrificed.

Well everything happening in the Iliad is happening in the Mycenaean period, Archaic is far later so in that case the case with Agamemnon won't be good.

You should try to get hold of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece by Dennis Hughes, and, especially, Bonnechere's Le sacrifice humain en Grece ancienne, the latter in French, yet pretty damn comprehensive. However, your context is quite specific and I can't think of any examples that fit your criteria off the top my head.

Thanks Red, I'll look those books up. I wasn't expecting anything from my period but I'll see what I can extrapolate from later tragedies etc.

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Originally Posted by Stig

Well everything happening in the Iliad is happening in the Mycenaean period, Archaic is far later so in that case the case with Agamemnon won't be good.

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However it was put into writing early on in the Archaic time, and hence also contains plenty of information on practices and mentalities from that period. Not necessarily events, but the context in which they're viewed.