The Athenian demosion sema, or mnema: problems of definitions? De-toponimizing Thuc. 2.34.5 and Paus. 1.29.4

Abstract

In Classical times, the Athenian war dead were buried in the suburb of the Kerameikos, within a place which is currently defined, after Thuc. 2.34.5, as Demosion Sema, or Mnema, as according to Paus. 1.29.4. In the framework of the recent general reassessment of this burial area, which is no longer conceived of as a national military cemetery in a modern sense, but as a more nuanced ‘space for the fallen’, this paper argues that the expressions demosion sema (public tomb) and mnema (monument) have been arbitrarily taken to refer to the burial area as a whole. In light of a renewed textual analysis of Thucydides’ and Pausanias’ narrative contexts, as well as of a survey of their extant editions and translations, this paper suggests that this ‘space’ did not have a more specific name than the name of the ‘most beautiful suburb of the city’ where it was located, the Kerameikos.

Keywords

• Classical Athens
• Thucydides
• Pausanias
• war dead
• Kerameikos
• civic commemoration