Jeremiah 9:17

Call for the mourning women - Those whose office it was to make lamentations at funerals, and to bewail the dead, for which they received pay. This custom continues to the present in Asiatic countries. In Ireland this custom also prevails, which no doubt their ancestors brought from the east. I have often witnessed it, and have given a specimen of this elsewhere. See the note on Matthew 9:23 . The first lamentations for the dead consisted only in the sudden bursts of inexpressible grief, like that of David over his son Absalom, 2 Samuel 19:4 . But as men grew refined, it was not deemed sufficient for the surviving relatives to vent their sorrows in these natural, artless expressions of wo, but they endeavored to join others as partners in their sorrows. This gave rise to the custom of hiring persons to weep at funerals, which the Phrygians and Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews. Women were generally employed on these occasions, because the tender passions being predominant in this sex, they succeeded better in their parts; and there were never wanting persons who would let out their services to hire on such occasions. Their lamentations were sung to the pipe as we learn from Matthew 9:23 . See the funeral ceremonies practiced at the burial of Hector, as described by Homer: -

Οἱ δ ' επει εισαγαγον κλυτα δωματα, τον μεν επειτα<-144 Τρητοις εν λεχεεσσι θεσαν, παρα δ ' εἱσαν αοιδους,Θρηνων εξαρχους, οἱ τε στονοεσσαν αοιδηνΟἱ μεν αρ ' εθρηνεον, επι δε στεναχοντο γυναικεςπ .

Il. lib. 24., ver. 719.