The Sword Did It A Greek Explanation For Suicide

In the article, The Sword did it: A Greek Explanation for Suicide, author F.S. Naiden explains how the Greeks, primarily the Athenians, viewed suicide. He describes how suicide was a form of homicide and how the Greeks reacted to homicides. He then explains how the Greeks buried the victims of suicide and how these burials differed from regular burials. Lastly, he expands on different agents that could be used in a suicide and how these objects would be treated after a suicide. He uses ancient sources like Sophocles, Plutarch, and Socrates to back up his arguments and claims. He also incorporates the ideas and thoughts of recent classicists like Elise Garrison, and Friedrich Pfister to emphasis his arguments and give them credit. According to Naiden, in the case of suicide, the victim does not kill himself or herself but the guilty party was actually the instrument they used to commit the suicide. According to Greek tradition, suicide was viewed as a form of homicide. Additio nally Greek families where obliged to avenge and punish the murderer of a fellow family member unless the person forgave his murderer before his death. However, in the case of suicide, there was no one to punish and no one left to do the forgiving. For this reason, the instrument or weapon a person used to commit suicide was convicted of the crime and subsequently punished. However, the victim did not always freely choose suicide and therefore different rules applied. According to EliseShow MoreRelatedUse Of Roles And The Social Position Of The Female913 Words   |  4 Pageswording from the poet’s thoughts. Now, the author is discussing about the grammatical explanation of the women character mentioned in the Sophocles’ plays. Sophocles had represented Antigone as a masculine gender in which Greek language referred to man. Creon, Antigone’s uncle is referring to her sister that they should act like women beside like a masculine gender. S. 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