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Joyce Fontana Roman Suicide Analysis

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I will only use the historical background portion of Joyce Fontana’s scholarly article. According to Fontana, ancient Greek suicide by means of hemlock was frequent among elderly or sick people. It was even accepted and considered to be a quality death in ancient Greek society. Tribunals decided whether or not the citizen would receive hemlock, and instead of mourning the suicide victims, festivals would be held to commemorate their lives. Also, in 500 BC on the island of Ceos hemlock became readily available to any citizen who wanted it. The next section about Roman suicide will be skipped as it does not pertain to my topic. Fontana continues by arguing maintaining control was a justification for suicide. She contends Socrates committed …show more content…

They believed everyone had a right to commit suicide and wanted everyone to live in harmony with nature. The Stoics did not believe disease and pain were not in harmony with nature, thus holding suicide as a valid option. The author then goes on to further discuss suicide in the Roman Empire and Christian/ Jewish world. The Romans were like the Greeks in their views and allowance of suicide while the Christians believed it to be a sin. Christians believe God has the ultimate power and is the only one that could end life (thus suicide is a sin to Christians). The rest of the article discusses the rationality of suicide in the terminally ill, debating whether or not the terminally ill should have the right to choose to die by suicide. This source will be extremely helpful for my term paper. It provides more perspectives and reasons for ancient Greek suicide. The perspectives include that of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Seno’s Stoics. Most of these philosophers have differing justifications for suicide, and all of them will be used in my term paper. The author does not bring up the topic of sexism in ancient Greek men and women suicides (saying that they are equal in regards to suicidal reasons), therefore this source could be used in part as a counterargument. From here, I have completed enough research in order to develop a thesis and begin my actual term paper. My research for the most part is finished, but this source allows me to come closer to finalizing my term

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