Using almost a thousand case studies, both real and fictional, Dr van Hooff provides us with a unique and engaging insight into self-killing in the Graeco-Roman world. The author analyses the methods and motives which lie behind self-killing relating them to ancient popular morality as it appears in the various media and traces the development of the concept of self-murder, as opposed to the original idea of autothanasia, which lies at the root of the Christian abhorrence of suicide.

Anton J. L. van Hooff

Part I Phenomena of Self-Killing 1. CASUS MORIENDI 2. MODI MORIENDI 3. CAUSAE MORIENDI Part II Experience of self-killing 4. SUICIDE IN WORDS AND TEXTS 5. EXPERTS, LAW-GIVERS AND ARTISTS Part III Reflections on self-killing 6. PHILOSOPHERS AND THEOLOGIANS