The book presents a systematic examination of mortuary practices in the Greek and Roman worlds as primary evidence for reconstructing social organisation. It opens with methodological reflections on the interpretation of burial data and the relationship between ritual performance and social hierarchy. Morris critiques earlier approaches that treated funerary remains as passive reflections of status, proposing instead that burial rituals actively construct and negotiate social meaning. Subsequent chapters analyse regional case studies, including archaic Greek communities, classical Athens, and Roman imperial contexts. Particular attention is given to variations in grave goods, monumentality, cremation and inhumation practices, and epigraphic commemoration. Through comparative analysis, the work demonstrates how funerary behaviour illuminates issues of class formation, civic identity, political transformation, and long-term structural change in the ancient Mediterranean. Ian Morris is a classical archaeologist and historian specialising in the social and economic history of the ancient Mediterranean. Educated in the United Kingdom and later active in the United States, he has held senior academic positions at major research universities. His scholarship focuses on social evolution, state formation, inequality, and the interpretation of archaeological data within broader historical frameworks. Morris is widely recognised for integrating quantitative archaeological evidence with theoretical models drawn from social anthropology and comparative history.