Le cicale e il mondo funerario greco

Cicadas are a prominent character in the Greek landscape. For this, the ancient Greek people create an entire mythology on the insect life and behaviour because of some curious aspect of its ethology.
Through musical and chromatic hints, the research tries to explain various issues about the Greek belief about cicadas and their relation with funerary practices. Also, their presence in many archaeological objects related to death and after-death rituals allow to identify some interesting link between the insect, the dead and the afterlife. Those aspects are investigated across the whole Greek world from the Black Sea Colonies to Great Greece in Italy and Athens.

Keywords: Cicadas, mythology, Greek belief, funerary practices