Suicide – Modern Day vs. Ancient Greek

            In today’s society, suicide has become twice as frequent as homicide in the United States (Suicide). In the year 2017, suicide alone has claimed the lives of 47,173 people and it is the 2^nd leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 (Suicide Statistics). Even worse, the amount of attempted suicides has been estimated to be around 1.4 million. Just based on these facts, we can see how prevalent suicide has become.

            Why is it that so many people attempt suicide? What causes these people so much pain that they make a choice to end their lives instead of fighting the root cause? Suicide has been part of human history, and the record tells us that it happened back in the ancient Greek period as well. In today’s world, “the main causes of suicides are due to mental disease, impulsiveness, and mistakes that have been made” (Lickerman). Were the causes the same for the ancient Greeks? Or was there something different that made the Greeks make the same choice?

            In the Iliad and Odyssey, we can learn that glory was the top priority in the ancient Greek period. Without glory, you were ashamed of yourself, and everyone ignored you because glory was everything back then (Leonard). There were some ways in which Greeks gained their own glory. One of the ways was to fight in battles, and win to get a “prize”—which were usually beautiful women or an armor of a famous warrior (Cartwright). The winner won the prize, and the person who lost would feel ashamed and lose his honor. This paper will discuss what role honor played in the act of suicide with the ancient Greeks.

            The act of suicide is different between the ancient Greek period and the modern day because the ancient Greek cause was focused more on the external side than the internal side. In the ancient Greek period, the act of suicide was seen as an act that defied the will of the gods. A famous philosopher, Aristotle denounced suicide as a crime against oneself and against one’s country, and as an act of cowardice in the face of life’s tribulation (Kraut). However, Plato expressed that “in certain situations, the act of suicide can be considered as justified when one’s honor or reputation has been severely oppressed” (Papadimitriou).

An example relating to this is the fight between Ajax and Odysseus (Figure 1). After Achilles died, Ajax and Odysseus fought against each other to obtain the famous Achilles armor. During the battle, Athena helps Odysseus win the battle and Odysseus gets the armor. Ajax feels great dishonor and he decides to kill himself (Dench). From this story, we can see how greatly honor had an influence on the ancient Greeks. There are several other incidents where men committed suicide because their honor had been taken away.

These stories and records of suicides say a lot about the Greek society, how honor was everything to the Greeks, and that it judged the worthiness of a person, affording them with respect of your peers, social status, and privilege if you had a high honor (Mallari). You had to prove yourself to be worthy and those who couldn’t prove themselves to be worthy were seen as unimportant. Proving oneself to be worthy did provide ancient Greeks with great warriors, but there were also side effects from focusing too much on honor. One of them is called hubris (or excessive pride), which we can see throughout the books Iliad and Odyssey. The hubris is what caused Agamemnon and Achilles to counteract against each other, and that eventually led to deaths of many, including those that Achilles loved (Homer, 103, 177-179).

            On the other hand, today’s world is very different from ancient Greek period in how we view suicide, and the causes that engage people in the act of suicide (Figure 2). In today’s world, the act of suicide might not be justified under most circumstances. If a person feels a trigger to suicide, there are resources out there that can help them  overcome the trigger, no matter what may have caused the feeling (Williams). Also, we consider everyone as worthy because everyone has the potential to become someone great, no matter how much a person has, or how well they dress. Today’s society tends to value more on the individual itself and the state of being happy, rather than the honor that ancient Greeks had (Ortiz-Ospina). This different attitude tells us that today’s society values a person as an individual itself, and that honor may not be the biggest factor playing into their lives.

There are also laws and organizations that protect people from committing suicide. The federal government in the United States prohibits euthanasia under general homicide in all 50 states (States with Legal Physician-Associated Suicide). The suicide laws are generally handled at the state level which may differ a bit depending on which state you’re in. Organizations such as free call centers, therapists, and other non-profit teams try and help people overcome the act of suicide (Stop a Suicide Today).   

            The similarity of suicide in the ancient Greek period and the modern day is that it considers mental distress in the process, which is also a necessary condition leading to a suicidal act. For example, in the ancient Greek period, Ajax went crazy and killed a herd of cows that he thought were the Greeks (Sophocles). The condition of this mental distress is similar not only in the ancient Greek period, but all around the world. The act of suicide gets carried out when the amount of mental pain or distress experienced by a subject is deemed unbearable by said subject (Asomatou, 69). Whether or not it is caused by external or internal factors, an individual feels overwhelming despair which drives them to end their lives. From the examples provided, we can indicate that in the end, it is the individual who makes the decision to commit suicide. The cause may be contrasting but ultimately, the individual makes the final decision.

            From the comparison of suicide between the ancient Greek period and the modern society, we can learn that societies always change as time goes on. They change what they value the most, and they change what determines an individual’s worth. In the future, societies will have different values from today’s standard. The world is constantly changing, and that change will shape society and influence how humans behave. In the end, because it is the individual who makes the final decision, we need to always remember that it is our choice to keep living. The values of society may change and they may influence how we behave, but we can always live up to our own values and make the right choices.

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Works Cited

“Suicide.” Mental Health Information, National Institute of Health, May 2018, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml.

“Suicide Statistics.” Suicide Statistics – AFSP, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Dec. 2017, www.afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/.

Lickerman, Alex. “The Six Reasons People Attempt Suicide .” Suicide Is Far More Understandable than People Think, Psychology Today, Apr. 2010, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-in-world/201004/the-six-reasons-people-attempt-suicide.

Kraut, Richard. “Aristotle’s Ethics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford, Sept. 2018, www.plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/.

Papadimitriou, John D, and Panayiotis Skiadas. “Viewpoint of Dramatists and Philosophers.” Euthanasia and Suicide in Antiquity, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Jan. 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1761665/.

Homer, and Stanley Lombardo. The Essential Homer: Selections from the Iliad and Odyssey. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2000.

Mallari, Kelly. “The Iliad Study Guide.” Honor in Ancient Greek Culture & Mythology, Study.com, July 2015, www.study.com/academy/lesson/honor-in-ancient-greek-culture-mythology.html.

Williams, Kimberly A. “Lifeline.” About Lifeline, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Jan. 2019, www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/about/.

“States with Legal Physician-Assisted Suicide – Euthanasia.” Understand the Issue. Understand Each Other, ProCon.org, 9 July 2018, www.euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000132.

“Stop a Suicide Today.” Worried about Yourself, a Friend, or a Loved One?, Screening for Mental Health, www.stopasuicide.org/.

Asomatou, Arezina, and Dionisios Bratis. “The Act of Suicide in Greek Mythology.” Encephalos, vol. 53, Dec. 2016, pp. 65–75., www.encephalos.gr/pdf/53-4-01e.pdf.

Dench, Emma. “A Conflict Between Odysseus and Achilles.” Chapter 3, Harvard University, Sept. 2010, www.chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5440.3-a-conflict-between-odysseus-and-achilles-in-the-iliad.

Leonard, John. “The Value of Athletic Glory in Ancient Greece.” Greece Is in Depth, Greece Is, 11 Aug. 2016, www.greece-is.com/athletic-glory-shadow-zeus/.

Cartwright, Mark. “Women in Ancient Greece.” Women in Ancient Greece, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 27 July 2016, www.ancient.eu/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/.

Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban, and Max Roser. “Happiness and Life Satisfaction.” Happiness and Life Satisfaction, Our World in Data, 1 May 2017, www.ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction.