Death may be a certainty in life, but our feelings and beliefs about it are often complex and ambiguous. This is as true in contemporary societies as it was in ancient times.
Beyond the Grave explores how the ancient Greeks and Romans viewed death, how they buried and remembered their dead, and what they believed about an afterlife. Despite the distance of time, it is possible to catch a glimpse of what death meant for ordinary Greeks and Romans through the artefacts they left behind.
This exhibition includes poignant inscriptions on tombstones, dramatic scenes in plays, carefully sculpted memorials, and detailed images of funeral rites painted on vases.
All these point to the fact that in ancient times, as now, how we approach the subject of death can reveal a great deal about what each of our cultures values most about life.
