ification, presupposing,
as it does, a different view of the destiny of the soul after death.
The men who burned the bodies of their dead believed that the soul
had no further use for its body after death, but departed into
a distant, shadowy, immaterial region, so that the body, if it
had any connection with the soul, acted rather as a drag and a
defilement, from which it was well that the soul should be released.
Therefore they dematerialized the body, and often the things used
by the body during life, by the action of fire. On the other hand,
those who buried their dead believed that the spirit of the dead
man dwelt in some fashion in the tomb, or at least hovered around
the body, waiting, perhaps, for a reincarnation, and capable of
using the weapons, the utensils, and the foods of its former life.
Therefore the body was carefully interred, sometimes even embalmed,
and its weapons and foods, or at all events simulacra of these,
were laid beside it.

The distinction between the two lines of thought is clear and strong;
but it does not necessarily presuppose an absolute distinction of
race. It is not improbable that towards the end of the Mycenaean
period, to which in any case the connection with the Homeric poems
would belong, cremation was beginning to supersede the older practice
of interment. In late Mycenaean graves at Salamis evidences of cremation
are found, and at Mouliana, in Crete, there are instances of uncremated
bones being found along with bronze swords on one side of a tomb,
while on the other were found an iron sword and cremated bones
in a cinerary urn. The distinction, then, is not necessarily one
of race, but of custom, gradually changing, perhaps within a
comparatively short period. It has even been suggested that no
interval of time of any great extent is needed, as the practice
of cremation may quickly develop among any race, being prompted
by the comfortable idea that when the flesh is disposed of, the
possibly inconvenient, possibly even vampire, ghost of a disagreeable
ancestor goes along with it.

Another difficulty arises from the fact that the Homeric poems
certainly contemplate a much wider use of iron than can be found
among the remains of the Mycenaean people. But the weight of this
objection may easily be exaggerated. Certainly the equipment
contemplated for the Homeric heroes is in most cases of bronze,
though the well-known line from the Odyssey, 'iron does of itself
attract a man