One of the main consequences of the Lelantine War, which for the first time between 710 and 650 BC pitted two factions of Greek city-states against each other, was the destruction of Lefkandi.

It was the most prosperous city in the area but had the misfortune of being located at the mouth of the Lelas River, which provided access to the fertile Lelantine plain, precisely the territory in dispute between the cities of Chalcis and Eretria.

Archaeological excavations carried out since 1964 have unearthed numerous remains of the ancient city, including three large necropolises, with pottery dating from the late Mycenaean period, indicating that the site was already inhabited in the Bronze Age.

Location of Lefkandi, with the place where the Heroon was discovered
Location of Lefkandi, with the place where the Heroon was discovered. Credit: Wolfymoza / Wikimedia Commons

The findings caused a sensation because they revealed that Lefkandi had been a Mycenaean settlement, but that after the destruction of all the other Mycenaean cities around 1200 BC, Lefkandi not only continued to exist but also experienced a great boom, becoming by the end of the 11th century the richest city in Greece along with Athens for the following two centuries.

However, the name of the city is unknown. Lefkandi is the name of the modern village located on the coast, and the hill on which the ancient city was located is now called Xeropolis. Some researchers believe it may be the Argoura mentioned by Demosthenes, but in any case, consensus considers it the mother city of Eretria.

The most important and significant find of the archaeologists at the site was made in 1980. It consists of the remains of a building about 45 by 10 meters with brick walls on a stone base, which are preserved up to 1.5 meters high, and which the archaeologists dated to the late 10th century BC (between 1000 and 950 BC), in the middle of the Greek Dark Ages.

View of the heroon with the burial site at Lefkandi
View of the heroon with the burial site at Lefkandi. Credit: Dan Diffendale / Flickr

A row of holes in the center must have contained the posts that supported the roof, and it was externally surrounded by a porch of wooden logs, closely resembling the early forms of Greek temples.

Inside, right in the center of the building, there was a large crater placed on top of a tomb 2.5 meters deep divided into two compartments. The northern compartment contained the remains of four horses. In the south, the archaeologists found the skeleton of a woman next to a Cypriot bronze amphora containing the ashes of a man wrapped in a cloth.

Next to them, a rich trousseau consisting of a sword and a small ivory-handled knife, both of iron, an electrum ring, two spirals of gold hair, a gold medallion with granulated circle and star patterns, two gold breastplates with spiral patterns, a crescent-shaped pectoral, and several bronze and iron clothing pins. Many of these objects came from Egypt and other places in the Near East.

On the left the urn with the remains of the man and the skeleton of the woman. On the right the four horses found
On the left the urn with the remains of the man and the skeleton of the woman. On the right the four horses found. Credit: Adolfo J. Dominguez / ResearchGate

The absence of traces of habitation indicates that the construction was a tomb, created to bury these two people. At some point after the burial, the building was demolished and filled to form a mound. The similarity with the heroa described by Homer led to it being considered a heroon, that is, a sanctuary erected over a tomb commemorating a hero.

And who could have been buried there, with treasures worthy of a Homeric hero? According to some researchers, such as Peter Blome, the burial of this prince of Lefkandi bears many similarities to the funeral rite most detailed in book 23 of the Iliad, the burial of Patroclus.

Firstly, the prince of Lefkandi was also cremated on a funeral pyre, as the post holes found contained traces of charred wood, just like Patroclus and Hector were.

Diagram of the heroon where the tomb was found, with the two burials in the centre
Diagram of the heroon where the tomb was found, with the two burials in the centre. Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture

Furthermore, Homer recounts that among the many offerings Achilles places on his deceased friend’s pyre are four strong-necked, solid-hoofed horses (Iliad, 23.171), curiously the same number as in Lefkandi, although here they were not incinerated but buried in a compartment adjacent to the main tomb.

According to Peter Blome, the twelve young Trojan victims that Achilles slays in a fit of rage (Iliad. 23.175) would not be expected at a real Homeric funeral, but it is important to raise the question of how we should imagine the status and death of the woman buried next to the prince.

Even with the remains of the prince of Lefkandi, a similar procedure to that described in Homeric poetry was followed: they were placed in a valuable cloth, which was then placed in an urn placed in a pit excavated in the ground, just as the Trojans did with Hector’s remains (Iliad, 24.797).

The interior of the heroon in 1991
The interior of the heroon in 1991. Credit: Mark Landon / Wikimedia Commons

And characteristic of the Homeric funeral rite is also the creation of a mound erected on a stone base to mark the memory of the deceased. In Lefkandi, something different was done, but not entirely different.

In summary, according to Blome, here an effort is made that almost equals the epic description of Patroclus’s funeral, and all the verifiable archaeological elements of prince burials combine to form a model that, as far as we can see now, would be unthinkable without knowledge of the epic sources.

In other places like Salamis or Athens, burials of this type have been found, but all of them dated after 750 BC, possibly influenced by the Homeric epic they wanted to imitate.

But the one found in Lefkandi is about 200 years earlier than Homer, which leads Blome to wonder if it might not have been funeral rites like those of Lefkandi that inspired later epic poetry. In that sense, it is very possible that in Lefkandi we are indeed witnessing Patroclus’s funeral, although we do not know his name.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on May 13, 2024: Cuando los arqueólogos encontraron la tumba de Patroclo en la isla de Eubea

Sources

Peter Blome, Lefkandi und Homer. Würzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertumswissenschaft, doi.org/10.11588/wja.1984.0.27000 | Carla Antonaccio, Lefkandi & Homer | Lefkandi Excavations | Lefkandi Archaeological Site (Greek Ministry of Culture) | Wikipedia

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