Abstract
The present thesis is a comparative research about death and afterlife in ancient Greek and Viking society making use of both literary sources such as the Eddas and the Homeric epic poems and archaeological evidence including ship burials, rune stones, grave steles and vase paintings. I start applying the subject of death and afterlife individually on each civilization and for this purpose the two first chapters consist of two parts; the first part deals with beliefs about death and afterlife and the second part is concerned about the rites of death. Hence, initially, I am occupied with the Viking conception of death, the existence of various death realms, the belief in ættefjell, the grave mound and necromancy, as well as with the Viking funerary rituals, the burial practices, the grave goods and the rites in memory of the dead. After applying the same method for ancient Greeks, I proceed to the ambitious endeavor of comparing the two worlds. Finally, I come to the conclusion that the conduct of Vikings towards death bears similarity mostly to the corresponding of the Greeks who lived in the Homeric era. This similarity can be justified by the way society was organized in the Viking era and the late Dark Age in Greece as also by the Indo-European background of the two mythologies which was practically the ideological framework for the practiced rituals. However, despite the apparent similarities, the two civilizations had significant differences relating to the subject of death, differences that render each of these civilizations unique.