Julius Caesar Pre-Reading Research Fun
1. Attitudes towards suicide held by the Romans during the time of Julius Caesar were contrasting to the attitudes towards this sensitive topic in modern American life, but their thought process of why they wanted to commit suicide can also be seen as similar to how it is now. Various cultures did have different views on suicide that will either more closely relate to how it is now a days, or even further contrast. In some cultures, taking your own life was seen as a punishable sin, as well as a crime. In others, it went to the extent that people who commited suicide were not to be given a proper burial. On the contrary, some cultures viewed ritual suicides as honorable because officials that were high-ranked would often take their own lives as a way to own up to a mistake they made. This kind of suicide would be seen as noble and honorable because of its purpose. It ancient Rome, suicide was not necessarily looked at as a bad thing; not a crime nor a sin. It was not viewed this way because of the purpose for the majority of the suicides. Back in this time, executions were the worst punishment. Because of these executions, people who were family or friends with the executed often became depressed, and thought that once their honor was gone, they didn’t have much to live for. It’s for this reason that a lot of people took their lives; they presumed that there was nothing more for them to live for. It was