Eulogy

A eulogy is a specialized form of public address that occurs within ceremonies and rituals held in honor of the recently deceased. Eulogies are important because they initiate the grief process of mourners. In so doing, they provide a variety of connections between the deceased and the survivors. The eulogy also often reveals as much about the eulogist as it does about the eulogized.

Marking the passing of a loved and appreciated person by way of a public speech within funeral and memorial services occurs in every civilized contemporary culture. Though a time-honored and widely accepted practice, popular and scholarly understanding of a eulogy's purposes and components continues to evolve. Once recognized as existing to praise and memorialize the deceased, eulogies now console both the audience and presenters.

History of Funeral Oration

Many societies across various eras have invoked rituals such as funerals to respond to the great mystery, fear, and awe that surround death and dying. While the majority of rituals pertain to handling and disposition of physical remains, ceremonial features are also prominent in the earliest stages of grieving. For over 100,000 years, death practices that include religious ceremony and oration have been created to inspire the passage of the soul into another spiritual realm. Burial sites from the Neanderthal period, located near present-day Iraq, yield tools and supplies indicating that the dead were equipped with such items for the journey into an afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians meticulously prepared corpses to ensure that the souls of the dead would pass on to the next world. Though much of the associated treatment such as embalming and mummification was physical in nature, language played a role via inscriptions on amulets and inside tombs. Funeral ceremonies commonly invoked nonverbal gestures, dances of grief, and incantations such as the Opening of the Mouth, designed to revive the deceased's senses for future use.

The term eulogy is derived from the Latin and Greek eulogia, meaning well speaking or giving of high praise. Predating the birth of Christ by at least 4 centuries, the Greeks celebrated a ceremony of public burial and funeral oration. The citizens of the city-state of Athens, recognizing those who had died in battle, expressed gratitude in the form of laudation within the funeral oratory. In his “Orations Against Leptines,” Demosthenes noted [Page 432]that the Athenians uniquely offered funeral orations to glorify brave men and their actions. In the Menexenus, Plato detailed the structure of the funeral oration form referred to as epitaphioi; he reviewed eulogizing of the dead, exhortation of their values, and consolation of their survivors. Political agendas have also been identified within Athenian funeral oratory. For example, epaino (praise of the city) was offered, as was idealization of democracy.

The ancient Romans also infused funeral oratory with memorialization as well as social and political advocacy. After funeral rituals, a relative of the deceased would recite his values, accomplishments, and service to Rome so as to honor the individual, the family, and the state. In so doing, the orator also endorsed a model of virtuous living. Though no direct record of Mark Antony's funeral oration for Julius Caesar exists, it is understood to have inspired mob activity that forced Caesar's slayers into exile.

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