The following material has been published on the web by Prof. Tom Sienkewicz for his students at Monmouth College. If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.
Archaic Greek Grave Monmuments
tombs as signs of memory and honor: sema and mnema
In Archaic period, grave marker became stele
Women never depicted alone at Athens in this period
Sumptuary legislation regulating erection of such monuments.
e.g. stele of Ariston
Archaic funeral monument detaches individual commemorated from his background and presents him as an archetypal figure of timeless human significance (Humphries)
most are commemorations of young children (and do not support theory of Fustel de Coulanges about family burials)
Kouroi and Korai
statues of young men and women
used as either burial markers or religious offerings
Most korai dedicated to goddesses by men
One dedicated in c.660 to Artemis by a Nikandra who gives her father's, brother's and husband's name.
individual, not group (family) commemoration
See L&F *3273-275: esp. Xenokleia
Compare modern tombstone:
Within this grave do lie
Back to back my wife and I
When the last trump the air shall fill
If she gets up, I'll just lie still.