Laios K, Tsoukalas G, Kontaxaki M-I, Karamanou M, Androutsos G
History of Medicine Department, Medical School, University of Athens.
1st Department of Psychiatry, University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Psychiatriki. 2014 Jul-Sep;25(3):200-7.
The theme of suicide appears several times in ancient Greek literature. However, each such reference acquires special significance depending on the field from which it originates. Most of the information found in mythology, but the suicide in a mythological tale, although in terms of motivation and mental situation of heroes may be in imitation of similar incidents of real life, in fact is linked with the principles of the ancient Greek religion. In ancient drama and mainly in tragedies suicide conduces to the tragic hypostasis of the heroes and to the evolution of the plot and also is a tool in order to be presented the ideas of poets for the relations of the gods, the relation among gods and men and the relation among the men. In ancient Greek philosophy there were the deniers of suicide, who were more concerned about the impact of suicide on society and also these who accepted it, recognizing the right of the individual to put an end to his life, in order to avoid personal misfortunes. Real suicides will be found mostly from historical sources, but most of them concern leading figures of the ancient world. Closer to the problem of suicide in the everyday life of antiquity are ancient Greek medicines, who studied the phenomenon more general without references to specific incidents. Doctors did not approve in principal the suicide and dealt with it as insane behavior in the development of the mental diseases, of melancholia and mania. They considered that the discrepancy of humors in the organ of logic in the human body will cause malfunction, which will lead to the absurdity and consequently to suicide, either due to excessive concentration of black bile in melancholia or due to yellow bile in mania. They believed that greater risk to commit suicide had women, young people and the elderly. As therapy they used the drugs of their time with the intention to induce calm and repression in the ill person, therefore they mainly used mandragora. In general, we would say that there were many reasons to suicide someone in antiquity. Very important factor was to avoid captivity and the consequent overcrowding of indignity, especially for politicians and military leaders. Also intention in these circumstances was to avoid torture and the disgrace of rape. Strong grief is another reason, as in case of death of family members. The erotic disappointment had place in ancient suicides, which concerned both men and women, while there were also suicide for financial reasons. Especially for the elderly, the despair of the anility in conjunction with physical illness and cachexia, were important factors for these people to decide thee suicidal. Finally, the methods of suicide fitted their epoch, but bear resemblance to those of the modern time. Poisoning was very common to both men and women but equally popular in both sexes was also the hanging. It was not unusual to fall from a high in order to reach the death, while stabbing a sword in the body for self killing was widespread in men and soldiers.
自杀主题在古希腊文学中多次出现。然而，每一处此类提及都因其起源领域而具有特殊意义。大部分信息见于神话之中，但神话故事里的自杀，尽管就英雄的动机和心理状况而言可能是对现实生活中类似事件的模仿，实际上却与古希腊宗教的教义相关联。在古希腊戏剧中，尤其是悲剧里，自杀促成了英雄的悲剧本质以及情节的发展，同时也是呈现诗人关于神的关系、神与人的关系以及人与人的关系等观点的一种手段。在古希腊哲学中，既有自杀的否定者，他们更关注自杀对社会的影响，也有接受自杀的人，他们认可个人有权结束自己的生命以避免个人不幸。真实的自杀案例大多来自历史资料，但其中多数涉及古代世界的杰出人物。与古代日常生活中的自杀问题更为贴近的是古希腊医学，他们更全面地研究这一现象，而不提及具体事件。医生原则上不赞成自杀，并将其视为精神疾病（忧郁症和躁狂症）发展过程中的疯狂行为。他们认为人体逻辑器官中体液的失衡会导致功能失调，进而引发荒谬行为，最终导致自杀，这要么是由于忧郁症中黑胆汁过度积聚，要么是由于躁狂症中黄胆汁过多。他们认为女性、年轻人和老年人自杀的风险更大。作为治疗方法，他们使用当时的药物，旨在使病人平静和抑制情绪，因此主要使用曼陀罗。总体而言，我们可以说在古代有很多导致人们自杀的原因。一个非常重要的因素是避免被俘以及随之而来的屈辱，特别是对于政治家和军事领袖而言。同样，在这些情况下，意图也是避免遭受酷刑和强奸的耻辱。强烈的悲痛是另一个原因，比如家庭成员死亡的情况。爱情失意也出现在古代的自杀案例中，涉及男性和女性，同时也存在因经济原因导致的自杀。特别是对于老年人来说，衰老的绝望与身体疾病和恶病质相结合，是促使他们决定自杀的重要因素。最后，自杀的方式符合那个时代的特点，但与现代的方式有相似之处。投毒对男性和女性都很常见，但上吊在两性中也同样普遍。从高处坠落致死并不罕见，而用剑刺身体自杀在男性和士兵中很普遍。
