When such an act was common, it was an act of pragmatism, not piety. It was a bribe to allow the dead to pass into the Blessed lands, seed money that they would need to survive in the land of the dead, proof that they were someone of importance ...
I don't think it was ever an act of piety, it wasn't for the gods, but for the soul of the dead.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmmag
no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 03:42 pm (UTC)I don't think it was ever an act of piety, it wasn't for the gods, but for the soul of the dead.
Well, that's my take on the practice.