The Image of Ancient Suicide

Anton J.L. van Hooff

In the ongoing discussions about euthanasia and self-killing the alleged position of

classical antiquity is often used to challenge the Christian code that condemned suicide as the

mortal sin of self-murder. There is, however, no hard evidence to corroborate the common view

that suicide was frequent in the Graeco-Roman world. Attempts to collect ‘all’ the cases of self-

killing in antiquity prove the insufficiency of the available data. In my From Autothanasia to

Suicide. Self-Killing in Classical Antiquity 1 960 instances were processed. Further research has

increased the number to 11682, but simple calculations demonstrate that from a statistical point of

view the numbers are insignificant. In a rough estimate these more than 1000 cases cover some

20.000 individuals (one case may concern quite a number of persons in the case of group

suicide). Taking into account the span of time (from ca. 1500 BC to 500 AD) and the estimated

size of population (some fifty million in the area covered by the Roman Empire) the standard

suicide rate for the ancient world would be in the order of 0.02 (in the modern unit of cases per

annum per 100,000). Such a number is of dwindling nothingness as compared to the rates of

modern society according to the statistics of the World Health Organization: England 9, the

Netherlands and the USA 12, Russia 19, France 22 and Hungary with its sinister top score of

1
From Autothanasia to Suicide. Self-Killing in Classical Antiquity, Routledge, London 1990. For the Roman
cases an earlier study exists: Yvonne Grisé, Le suicide dans la Rome antique, Montréal 1982, but her data are to be
used with circumspection.

2
Since the manuscript for the book was finished there has been a steady, albeit slow increase of recorded cases.
However, the new data do not affect the overall conclusions of the book. For the present paper the updated corpus
of 1168 cases has been used.

1
around 50. With respect to ancient suicide we are not in a position to reconstruct - in Von

Ranke's famous dictum - 'how it really has been' (wie es eigentlich gewesen).

A closer look at the nature of our evidence explains why any statement about self-killing

among the Greeks and Romans is doomed to be impressionist. We can only observe ancient

suicide through filters. The predominantly literary sources3 have been highly selective in

recording specific types of manly behavior leading up to suicide. This preference accounts for

the impression that the use of stabbing tools (swords, daggers and scalpels) was quite common,

accounting for 39% of all cases in which a means of suicide was recorded. Circumstantial

evidence, however, questions this apparently solid conclusion, for in all pre-industrial societies

self-hanging is by far the most common way out. (One African tribe is reported to have no

other word for suicide than self-hanging). There is no good reason to suppose that the pattern

was different for the world of Greeks and Romans. Secondary material from antiquity such as

legal texts and sick jokes, reinforces the view that in the classical world too the halter was the

common instrument of self-chosen death. The generals and politicians who predominate the

tableau of the ancient suicide, simply constitute the tip of an iceberg.

However, a scientist who wants to know more about the nature of an iceberg and who

has no other means available, will look carefully at the part above the sea level to find out about

the main body of the hidden mass. In a similar vein the student of ancient suicide has to apply

subtle techniques to interrogate the limited evidence that is available to him. He may draw

encouragement from the consideration that the material at his disposal is not the result of

arbitrary selection. It reflects the patterns in which the ancients wished to understand self-killing.

3
Some cases were gathered by consulting inscriptions and papyri. Only for a few instances - the suicide of the
Galatians who were defeated by Attalos I and the anonymous Dacians on Trajan’s column is art the exclusive
source of information.

2
It must be possible to reconstruct, if not the facts, at least the perception of ancient self-killing.

For the one thousand or so cases represent the image of classical suicide, mainly known by way

of literary sources. They are to be regarded as the icons of the ancients’ approach to self-killing.

What about the icons in proper sense, i.e. representations of suicide in art? This is

question this paper tries to answer. Its basis are 1064 representations in ancient art. Of course, one

can never be sure about the completeness of such a collection, but there are good reasons to

assume that it is fairly representative.5

As an historian I am not qualified to assess the aesthetic meaning of an individual

work of art nor its place in a specific genre. My questions are basic and global: who were the

suicides to be represented? Were specific methods favored or avoided by art? If so, why? What

is the proportion of male versus female suicide?6 Are there distinct patterns for Greek and

Roman iconography of self-killing? The answers to these questions may help to establish the

significance of art for understanding the ancient paradigm of mors voluntaria.

The way an individual puts an end to life is the most objective method to group the

representations. Therefore the material has been organized according to the method used by the

(would-be) self-killer. Weapons will be the first category as they have the highest proportion

1. Weapons (82)

4
The number represents a considerable increase as compared to the 38 representations that were discussed in my
1990 monograph, Chapter 5D entitled 'The Image of Self-Killing' (full reference in note 1).
5
Apart from chance finds during the years that have elapsed since the appearance of my 1990 monograph,
instances were afforded by expert colleagues who know about my morbid collector’s mania. Furthermore, I
checked several publications cataloguing persons in ancient art (see note 7) against my list of 1168 cases of
suicide. The effect of diminishing returns was operating during the last phase of my research so that there is good
reason to assume that the limits of the available material are close.
6
See also my 'Female Suicide Between Ancient Fiction and Fact', Laverna (Münster) 3(1992), p.142-172, in an
earlier version published in Russian in Vestnik Drevney Istoriy Moscow) 1991.2, p.18-43.

3
 Swords and daggers are the most common tools in the ancient iconography of self-

killing accounting for no less than 82 out of 106 items. This means that their share in

representations is considerably higher than the already distorted view - see above - furnished

by the literary sources: 77% as compared to 39% to the general picture. Given the over-

representation of weapons in the image of ancient self-killing it is feasible to have a closer look

at the various perspectives under which the use of weapons figures.

1.1. Aias the perfect hero

In all respects the picture of ancient suicide is dominated by Aias who represented

heroic values in the highest degree. As he lost face when Achilles’ armor was not accorded to

him he threw himself on his sword. Aias was the prototype of heroic dignity, representing the

ancient shame culture. Since Homer (Odyssey. 11,541-567) the story was known to all Greeks.

The popularity of Aias’ fate accounted for numerous literary versions. In Sophocles’ Aias the

act of self-killing is performed on the stage, contrary to what is regarded as Greek drama

conventions. The tragedy presupposes an audience that is familiar with the story, thus enabling

the playwright to raise principled questions about the meaning of the deed. Art does not show

such sophistication. By the sheer number Aias is the top suicide, accounting for no less than 45

occurrences, i.e. 42% of this morbid museum. Especially in the archaic period of their history

Aias was the model hero: many a hoplite was literally faced with his example when he stood in

the phalanx. At Olympia and in a few other places eight bronze Aias plaques have come to light.

Such plaques were fastened to the leather of the shield belt. So the hoplite was confronted with

4
the picture of the model hero in his ultimate act. All the plaques follow the same pattern: Aias

lies on his knees and elbows, being pierced by his sword. Two warriors observe the corpse

with dismay. Sometimes an elderly man - probably Nestor - joins the observers. 7

This highly realistic scene of an Aias on his sword is found on several other items that

also date from the archaic period: on a bronze matrix, an ivory comb, a terra-cotta altar and

- the most impressive one - the unfinished metope of treasury 1 in Foce del Sele, preserved in

the Paestum Museum.8 This scene is also chosen by Corinthian potters9, whereas Attic and

Etruscan vases take the moments before or after the act. 10 Best known is the Attic amphora

by Exekias in the municipal museum of Boulogne showing the hero erecting his sword on the

coast of Asia, symbolized by a palm tree.11

Etruscan art, always eager to select the most violent scenes of Greek mythology,

makes Aias resemble an athlete, making leaps over his sword. The bent body of the hero in

his salto mortale fits perfectly into the oval shape of a gem.

7
That it must be Nestor and not Phoinix, a name that also has been suggested, is proven by a Corinthian bowl
that has the name Nestor written to the right of the elderly person. See ‘Aias I 122’ in The Lexicon
Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (= LIMC). LIMC has only one entry, viz. Aias I 127, Olympia B 5007=
Emil Kunze, Archaische Schildbänder. Olympische Forschungen 2, Berlin 1950, p.27, catalogue number XXVIx
(Inv. B 1636), Tafel 55 (= F. Brommer, Denkmälerlisten zur griechischen Heldensage III, Marburg 1976, p.15,
‘Aias' Selbstmord 5). LIMC refers to Brommer ibid. for additions. There one finds as numbers 1 and 2 Athens
National Museum 6965 and 6962. Number 3 is Kunze IVc, Tafel 18 (Olympia B 1654). Brommer's number 4,
given as Kunze XVIIe, Tafel 45, is to be read as XVIIb, Tafel 44 (Olympia B 1896). Brommer's list is
supplemented by Peter C. Bol, Argivische Schilde. Olympische Forschungen 17, Berlin 1989, p.29, with B 5160
and B 7520. To these an eighth one can be added that is on show in the Delphi Museum, Inv. 8546. See Claude
Rolley, Museum of Delphi. Bronzes, École française d'Athènes, n.d. pp. 34-35, Fig. 41.

8
LIMC 125, 126, 129 and 128.

9
LIMC 118-124.

10
LIMC 104, 105, 107, 108, 115, 117.

11
LIMC 104.

5
 A different scheme in which the hero does not throw himself on his sword, but directs the

weapons against himself is shown on two coins of Prusa ad Olympum from the third century

AD.12 It may reflect a different version, which is also suggested by the only Roman

representation, a sculpted stone found in Regensburg, Germany. A small person - his genius? -

leads Aias’ hand to the one and only spot where he is vulnerable according to one mythical

tradition, viz. his armpit.13

In the final episode Aias’ pierced body is about to be covered, as a Greek vase and an

Etruscan gem show. On the vase in the Metropolitan Museum Aias lies on his back. In this

picture the sword is shown as having pierced him from behind, technically an improbable way,

but from an artistic point of view a satisfying solution. A woman - presumably his concubine

Tekmessa - has a cloth in her hands, about to cover the corpse. In this way the series of scenes

is completed: each moment of the self-killing is represented. Both the variety and the number

make Aias the outstanding suicide in the ancient iconography. 14

1.2. Respectable Devotio

There is no other Greek suicide that matches Aias’ popularity. At a long distance lies

Herakles who burned himself on the pyre, with 8 entries (see below). In the category weapons

Menoikeus comes second, with 7 pictures. This hero is part of the saga of Thebes being

besieged by the Seven. Having heard from Teiresias that only the death of one of the Spartoi

12
LIMC 137-138.

13
LIMC 136.
14
From the reference by Pliny the Elder Natural History 35, 40, 136 it cannot be surmised what the subject of the
‘Aias’ was that was painted by Timomachus of Byzantium and placed by Caesar in the temple of Venus Genetrix
together with a Medea bought from the same artist.

6
could rescue his city he thrust himself on his sword in an act of exemplary devotio.15 On the

walls of his hard-pressed city he threw himself on his sword. Philostratos tells that he saw a

painting of Menoikeus in an art gallery near Naples. In this case we have a reference to a work

of art that to us is no longer visible, but whose existence is assured by a reliable source: is only

known: in this paper 8 instances of such virtual suicide representations have been taken into

account; they are reported by Appian, Philostratos and Plutarch. 16 Menoikeus sacrificed

himself in an attempt to save Thebes from the siege. Philostratos' story deserves trust because

we have authentic pictures of Menoikeus' deed on 5 Etruscan cinerary urns. On one type we

see Kapaneus climbing the ladder, whereas a person, presumably Menoikeus, is falling

down, having stabbed himself to death before throwing himself from the city wall. 17 A second

series consists of three cinerary urns and one clay temple front. Here Kapaneus is shown

carrying Menoikeus' body while climbing - maybe to demonstrate in impious defiance that the

sacrifice was in vain.18 However, before reaching the pinnacles of the wall he was struck by

Zeus' lightning. This moment may have been chosen by Tauriscus who is reported by Pliny to

have painted ‘a Kapaneus’.19

15
Philostratos Eikones 1, 4, 4; the story in Euripides Phoinissai 331 en Hyginus Fabulae 8, 4 and 242, 3. More
on the motive of devotio in From Autothanasia to Suicide (see note 1), p.126 ff.
16
Appian Bell. Mithr. 17,117 (Mithridates); Philostratos Eikones 1, 4, 4 (Menoikeus); 1, 12, 4 (lovers throwing
themselves in the Bosporus); 2, 9, 4 (Pantheia); 2, 30, 2 (Euadne Kapaneus wife); Iokaste statue by Silanion as
described by Plutarch Moralia 18C and 674A; Caes. Bell. Afr. 88,3/4 (Cato Uticensis), Silius Italicus 3, 32-44 (=
LIMC Herakles 1715). One case was excluded as being fictitious, viz. the death of Menippe and Metioche, the
girls who devoted themselves, painted on the crater given by Anius to Aeneas in Ovid Metamorphoses 13, 692.

17
LIMC Kapaneus 22, 23

18
Kapaneus 18, 19 and 20 referring to B. von Freytag Gen. Löringhoff, 'Das Giebelrelief von Telamon',
Rheinisches Museum Erg-H.27(1986)171-176 with illustrations.
19
Pliny Natural History 35, 40, 144.

7
1.3. Desperate Enemies

In the triumph that Caesar celebrated after the Civil War he indulged his hatred against

Cato Minor in an outrageous way: a panel carried in the procession showed how this formidable

enemy stabbed himself to death in Utica when there was no other way out. Soon Cato Uticensis

was to become a Stoic saint. He was well suited for this role as he read Plato's Phaidon, the

book on the immortality of the soul, before 'departed from life’, as Cicero put it. He died a

'noble death', in Horace's words.20 The Caesarean author of the African War , however, does not

spend any praise on the adversary. There is only a kind of soldierly respect for Cato's contempt

of death when it is told that he himself tore open the wound when his friends had stopped the

bleeding.21 The paintings showing how the last defenders of Pompey's cause ended their life in

ultimate despair were received with mixed feelings. 22 None of such ambiguous sentiments had

been raised when, about ten years before in 61 BC, Pompey himself had shown in his triumphal

march how the besieged Mithridates had to flee in the night and had finally killed himself. 23

At any rate Caesar's rude act seemed to have lacked the subtle qualities of the most

famous example of the triumphant's perspective: the group of the dying Gauls immortalizing the

victory by Attalos I over the barbarians. It is the empathy of the Hellenistic sculptor that makes

this work so moving: the almost meditative expression of the Gaul in the Capitoline Museum

makes the observer ponder over the vicissitudes of human existence. In this way the monument

20
'vita excedere', Cicero Philippicae 2, 6, 12; Horatius Carmina 1, 12, 35: 'nobile letum'.
21
Caesar Bellum Africanum 88, 3/4.

22
Appian Civil Wars 2, 101.
23
Appian De bello mithridatico 17, 117

8
conveys much more than mere malicious pleasure. This appealing approach produced an

iconographic scheme.24

Possibly a bronze in the National Museum of Naples (MN 5025) echoes the pattern. as it

may show Brennos the Gaul leader who laid hands on himself when he failed in his assault on

Delphi in 279 BC. On a sarcophagus of Vigna Amendola a Gaul stabs himself before Greek

horsemen are able to finish him off.25 So there was an established tradition of the formidable

enemy killing himself before the enemy. The Romans found a perfect equivalent in the suicide

by Decebalus and other Dacians and showed them on Trajan's column. 26

Evidently Decebalus' self-destruction was regarded as the climax of the Dacian war as it

is depicted on the side facing Trajan’s temple, on the same vertical line as the Victoria who

marks the caesura between the first and the second campaign. 27 In the first half of the winding

relief there is only one scene that may represent a desperate self-killing, viz. on panel XXIV, 59-

60 (Settis 30), whereas in the upper half the finale is announced by two indisputable cases.

There, on panel CXX (Settis 228-230), besieged Dacians collectively take poison preferring

death to captivity (more on this scene below).

During an encounter between Romans and Dacians, on panel CXL (258), one barbarian

thrusts his sword in his breast. Next the Roman horsemen start the final chase of Decebalus.

Pressed by them Decebalus uses his curved sword against himself on panel CXLV (268). The
24
Bernard Andreae, Motivgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu den römischen Schlachtsarkophagen, Berlin 1956.
pp. 40-46, illustration 1.
25
c. AD 170, Rome, Museo Capitolino. Bernard Andreae, The Art of Rome, New York 1977, ill. 503 drawing S.
Reinach, Répertoire de reliefs grecs et romains (RRGR) III p.205.
26
The numbers of the panels are according to the usual counting of C. Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Trajanssaüle,
Berlin 1896-1900. In this paper the number in brackets denotes the illustration in S. Settis et al., La Colonna
Traiana, Torino 1988. This publication for the first time presents the whole relief in color photos taken by
Eugenio Monti from the original and not from casts. The restoration campaign of the eighties made it possible to
produce this magnificent work.
27
Settis o.c. pp. 206, 214 and 217; the puzzling scene at the bottom, a man falling from a mule, that is placed on
the same vertical line must be very significant; Settis supposes is that it was a frightening event that was
interpreted for the better and so gained the significance of an omen acceptum.

9
first horseman to the left can be identified as Tiberius Claudius Maximus. In his lengthy funerary

inscription found in 1965 he is hailed as having been the man who had 'caught' (cepisset)

Decebalus and had enjoyed the honor of presenting the emperor with the head of the king. He

owed his career to this glorious achievement. Neither in the epitaph’s text nor in the relief at the

top any allusion is made to the way the king died. The ambiguous verb ‘capere’ was cleverly

chosen to suggest a more active role than Tiberius Claudius Maximus actually played. He or his

kin had to be cautious as everybody knew what had actually happened. There is no need to

assume an ‘upper’ and a ‘lower’ version of the story as Settis does. 28 It is just a matter of

perspective. Also Pliny stresses the active role of the Romans. In a letter he praises his friend

Caninius Rufus for his plan to write the history of the Dacian War, in the course of which a king

‘was expelled from his palace, even from his life’. 29 On the column the story is continued. Panel

CXLVI (272) depicts how Decebalus’ head and hand were shown to the troops in a camp. The

morbid prize of the king’s head was brought to Rome to add luster to Trajan’s victory by being

exhibited at the Gemonian stairs. 30

The deep impression the event made on the whole Roman Empire is reflected in the

use of an uncommon medium for historical scenery, viz. pottery: two cups signed by L. Cosius

from La Graufesenque, glorify Trajan's victories over the Parthians and Dacians. On one piece

28
o.c. p.226: ‘Possiamo congetturare che una versione “alta” degli eventi insistesse sulla morte del re Dace prima
della cattura [..] mentre una versione “bassa” lo presentava catturato dai Romani e poi decapitato.’
29
Epistulae VIII, 8, 2: ‘pulsum regia, pulsum etiam vita regem’ .
30
M.S. Speidel, ‘The Captor of Decebalus. A New Inscription from Philippi’, Journal of Roman Studies
LX(1970), pp. 142-53, 583. The career inscription (l'Année Épigraphique 1969/70) tells how Tiberius Claudius
Maximus was promoted to the rank of centurion by ‘Troiano’, 'because he had caught Decebalus and brought him
the head in Ranisstorum'. The famous head was displayed in Rome as is told by Cassius Dio (68, 14, 3) and
confirmed by the Fasti Ostienses (Smallwood, Documents n.20: ‘D]ecibali [caput in sca]lis Gemoni[is iacuit’. See
also A. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italae XIII, 1, 198 ff.). Peter Connolly made this Tiberius Claudius Maximus the
model of a Roman military careerist in two magnificent albums, The Legionary and The Cavalryman, Oxford
1988. In the latter book he has redrawn the scene of Decebalus' death in modern style on page 20/21; on p.25 one
finds the inscription. It is highly debatable whether the Tropaeum Traiani of Adamklissi alludes to Decebalus’
suicide; see the discussion by Settis on p.224, with extensive references.

10
the self-killing of 'DECIBALU' is stamped twice, on the other fragmentary one evidently the

same negative was used for the posture of the king, who thrusts his sword into his breast, but

here he is called DECIBALE. 31

The highly specific type of 'the enemy humiliated up to the point of taking his own

life' is the only category which furnishes us with some cases of self-killing, by anonymous Gauls

and Dacians, not reported by the written sources.32

A different type of heroic (para)suicide is represented by Achilles who threatened to kill

himself after the death of Patroklos (Iliad 18,24). A skyphos of the Brygos painter depicting

how Priamos brings a ransom for Hektor's corpse alludes to the menace: Achilles lying on the

bed under which Hektor's mutilated body is thrown, has a sword near his neck. This is pure

despair fitting a hero.

1.4. Women of Manliness

For obvious reasons weapons do not have a feminine signature. There is evidence that the

rope was regarded as the specific tool for women - and slaves - as is the familiar pattern for

pre-industrial societies. Even in the highly selective data furnished by the literary sources,

ancient women demonstrate a preference for hanging themselves: the method accounts for

34% of all female suicides. For females stabbing comes second with 25%, whereas for

males it was the means in nearly half of all recorded cases (45%). 33 It needs a special motive for

31
My colleague Rien Polak notified me of the existence of this unique piece; see A. Vernhet, 'Un four de la
Graufesenque', Gallia 39(1981), p.38. See also Settis o.c. p.226 with references in a note.
32
Salvatore Settis, ‘ Fuga e morte di Decebalo’ in Festschrift Nikolaus Himmelmann, Bonn 1988.

33
See the graphs on p.44 and the tables on p.235 of my From Autothanasia to Suicide (note 2).

11
women to resort to the means of virtus, manliness. In Lucretia's case, as Valerius Maximus

(6.1.1) puts it, by a freak of nature a male soul had been implanted into a female body.

Lucretia is the perfect counterpart of Aias in shame. Having been raped by Sextus

Tarquinius she could not stand the idea of having to face people. Although she could not be

blamed, as the stories told by Livy ( I , 58) and by Dionysios of Halikarnassos (Roman

Antiquities 4, 65/66) stress, objectively she was stigmatized. In Roman literature Lucretia acts as

the model of female dignity.

In the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance she who put her chastity above all,

was rediscovered as one of the ‘pagan saints’. As such she became highly popular in art. A

complementary motive was that she furnished painters with a ready alibi to picture female

nudity.34 Roman art, however, has, as far as I know, produced not a single representation of the

heroine of pudor.

There are three Etruscan urns that may be connected to the Lucretia story. All three

give the same scene with only slight variations.35 On the right lies a woman on a couch. On

Volterra 346 only the right arm hanging down and two women in sorrow suggest a drama.

Things become clear on Volterra 499 where the woman is nude to the hips. She has fallen onto

a sword that pierces her stomach and comes out of her back. Her left hand still grips the hilt of

the sword while her right arm hangs limply over the couch on which she lies. With good

arguments Jocelyn Penny Small rejects Körte's suggestion that it is Melanippe whose self-

killing is depicted.36

34
Ian Donaldson, The Rapes of Lucretia, Oxford 1982.

35
Jocelyn Penny Small, 'The Death of Lucretia', American Journal of Archaeology 80(1976), pp. 349-60.

36
H. Brunn and G. Körte, I rilievi delle urne etrusche I-III, Berlin 1870-1916, especially II, 233-35.

12
 In note 24 she mentions the 25 candidates taken from Hyginus' list of 'women who have

killed themselves' (Fabulae 243). My file of more than 1000 cases enables me to limit the

number to nine, i.e. those mythical women who have killed themselves with a weapon, but

none of the candidates fits in the picture.37 Therefore it makes sense to accept the author's

option and to assume that it is Lucretia who is represented.

Highly intriguing are Small’s proposals for the identification of the other persons of

the scene. Some of them do not figure in the Roman story as told by Livy 1,57-59: there is a

mourning lady - the mother of the heroine? - and a little boy - a son of Collatinus and

Lucretia? Most puzzling is a winged female figure and a man who escapes to the right.

Small explains the two by assuming an Etruscan version of the story in which Venus prevents

Lucretia's kin from taking revenge on Sextus Tarquinius. In that case the urn would belong to a

small series on the theme of aborted revenge (comparable to Paris and Telephos). If so,

the Etruscan story must have been completely different from the Roman version (comparable

to the way the Romans revised the tradition concerning Lars Porsenna). Then Lucretia is

not the blameless victim of rape. Did she fail to seduce the young man - a parallel to Phaidra or

Stheneboia? Or was she abandoned by her lover like Dido? Pursuing this view Lucretia's semi-

nudity on Volterra 499 could hint at her wantonness. As there is no better solution we accept

Small’s ingenious interpretation. At least we have here an Etruscan pictorial tradition on the

suicide by a woman represented by three reliefs. Were there certain scruples that prevented the

Romans from explicitly showing their own compatriot in the act of her suicide?

There certainly was no taboo on representing exotic women in the ultimate deed of

despair, like Kleopatra and Dido. When 'pious' Aeneas gave precedence to his mission and left
37
The candidates are: Althaia, Amphinome, Deianeira, Eurydike (Kreon's wife), Kanake, Kyane, Makaria,
Polyxena and Theano.

13
his love, she stabbed herself to death on top of the pyre that was to consume her body

(Virgil, Aeneid 4,642-692). An illuminated fourth century manuscript has this scene.

Strangely enough the event is located inside a chamber. Dido has climbed the bustum by way

of a ladder and, lying on a sofa, is about to stab herself. 38

Also Althaia is shown in ancient art stabbing herself to death. We find her twice on

sarcophagi dating from the late-Antonine period. They depict the same scene, i.e. the moment

when her son's corpse was brought home: Meleager was doomed to die from the moment

Althaia threw the log of wood on which his fate was dependent, in the fire. She did so when in a

row Meleager had killed her brothers. Confronted with the effect of her curse the mother

stabbed herself to death.39

In a similar state of mind the Persian Pantheia blamed herself for the death of her

husband having exhorted him to follow Cyrus on his campaign. In her despair she gave

herself as a burial sacrifice. Philostratos describes an episodic painting showing the death of

her beloved Abradates as well as the scene of her suicide after Xenophon's story: she has not yet

pulled out the sword presenting an ultimate view of her beauty to the spectator. Eros who was

accessory to the drama is also present in the picture. 40

38
Virgilius Vaticanus cod. Lat. 3225 f.40; illustration in color in Kurt Weitzmann, Late Antique-Early Christian
Book Illuminations, George Braziller, New York 1977, p.36 and in Tim Cornell & John Matthews, Atlas of the
Roman World, Equinox, Oxford 1982, p.216.

39
LIMC s.v. Althaia 6 and 7 with illustrations. The most impressive version is told in Ovid Heroides 9, 157; also
in Homer Iliad 9, 529, Bakchylides 5, 93, Apollodoros 1, 62, Diodor 34, 6, Hyginus Fabulae 129 and 171 and
Pausanias 10, 31, 3. The sarcophagus in the Corsetti palazzo redrawn by Reinach RRGR III p.222.

40
Xenophon Kyroupaideia 7, 3, 14; Philostratos Eikones 2, 9, 4.

14
 Fatal love resulting in suicide obviously was an appealing theme. In the fourth century

AD a series of frescoes was devoted to tragic passion in women.41 This gallery discovered 1816

in the villa of Munatia Procula, situated near the Tor Marancia in front of the Porta Sebastiano,

showed inter alias Kanake, whose incestuous love for her brother Makareus led to the death

of both, on the orders of their father Aiolos. On the painting she holds the sword against her

neck. Her identification is assured by the name ‘Canace’. It is probable that also a hydria from

Canosa shows her. It was painted circa 410 BC, i.e. not long after the first staging (423) of

Euripides Aiolos. It shows a young woman - presumably Kanake - breaking down lying on a

couch, sword in the hand and a wound below her breast. An elderly man - Aiolos? - points

accusingly with a stick to a young man, that could well be Makareus. 42

Sometimes the use of the sword by a woman is motivated by the circumstances, as in the

case of Iokaste's death. It was not her self-hanging in Sophokles' Oidipous Tyrannos 1235 (or

in Homer's Odyssey 11, 278 where she is called Epikaste) that inspired artists. According to

Euripides' Phoinissai 1455 she lives on for another ten years. She sees the mutual killing of

her two sons Polyneikes and Eteokles in single combat before the walls of Thebes. She grabs

one of the swords and pierces herself. This scene is shown on a Macedonian relief cup kept in

Halle, Germany.43

In antiquity a statue was extant showing the death of Iokaste. It was cast by Silanion

who added silver to her face in order to give his bronze statue the appearance of a person on
41
On the paintings from the villa of Munatia Procula: Wolfgang Helbig/Hermine Speier, Führer durch die
öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom, Tübingen 19634, Nr. 464, 353-55

42
The identification in LIMC s.v. Kanake 1: hydria in Bari Museo Archeologico 1535 is not assured: also
Makaria has been suggested, cf. Bari 3648. The Roman fresco - LIMC Kanake 3 - is now on show in the Sala
delle Nozze Aldobrandine in the Vatican Museum.

43
LIMC s.v. Iokaste 17 with illustration; James Blitz, 'Tragedies van Euripides op Macedonische reliëfbekers',
Hermeneus 62.2(April 1990), pp. 113-119, with an illustration on p.115.

15
the verge of dying. This work of art is twice mentioned by Plutarch as evidence that the

imitation of a painful event gives a certain peculiar pleasure. 44 Presumably this piece of art

represented Euripides' Iokaste using a sword and not the rope of the Oidipous Tyrannos . Apart

from technical reasons - how to represent self-hanging in plastic art? - the common

disrepute of self-hanging speaks for this interpretation (unless Silanion went to extremes in all

respects). In this context it is significant that in Seneca's Oedipus Iocasta shows her

son/husband the way out by stabbing herself. So the Roman tragedian has attributed more virtus

to her than his Greek model showed.45 To stab oneself is a noble death as Helen of Troy

concludes when considering various ways of dying willfully:

Unseemly is the noose ‘twixt earth and heaven:

Even of thralls ‘tis held a death of shame,

Noble the dagger is and honorable,

And one short instant rids the flesh of life

Euripides, Helena 299-303

1.5. A Tragic Couple

In only one case a female acts an Aias by throwing herself on a sword: when Thisbe

found Pyramus dying she used the weapon by which her lover had killed himself.. The elaborate

story of this tragic misunderstanding was Ovid's own invention. The popularity of the poet of

the Metamorphoses established itself rapidly as is proven by the existence of no less than four

44
Moralia 18C and 674A.

45
Seneca Oedipus 1033-1041.

16
representations of the story in Pompeii. None of those is of high artistic quality; the painters

were visibly struggling with the problem of showing Thisbe's thrust on the sword. A different

type of the Pyramus and Thisbe scene is represented in a tomb on Isola Sacra near Portus and in

a villa mosaic on Cyprus.46

2. The Leap of Devotio and Love (6)

There was another tragic couple whose suicide allegedly was the theme of a picture.

On a panoramic painting of the Bosporus Philostratos saw the outcome of a love story: 'The

coast is rugged and it preserves traces of the following story: a boy and a girl, both handsome,

were pupils of the same teacher. They fell in love and when there appeared no opportunity to

embrace each other, they decided to die by throwing themselves from that rock. Thus they flew

into the sea in a last and first embrace. And Eros on the rock stretches his hand to the sea; in

this way the painter alludes to the story.'47

A sudden explosion of despair causing lovers to throw themselves from a height was to be

respected, at least as a deed of audacity. The method required a maximum of resoluteness and

a minimum of preparation, unless the would-be suicide decided to travel all the way to the

Leucadian rocks. Allegedly there, Sappho, the embodiment of passion, had put an end to her

life. Her 'lover's leap' is to be seen in the Antiquarium of Carthage and on a stucco relief in the

apsis of the (Neopythagorean?) Basilica Sotteranea near the Porta Maggiore in Rome. She is

46
See Ovid Metamorphoses 4, 119 ff. and 162 ff. Frescoes in the houses of Octavius Quartio - still in situ - and
Lucretius Fronto (V, 4, 11), in the 'Casa delle Venere in bikini' (I, 11, 6) and in house IX, 5, 14. See for these and
the other two pictures mentioned: Ida Baldassare, 'Piramo e Tisbe: dal mito all'immagine', in: l'Art décoratif à
Rome à la fin de la République et au début du Principat , Rome 1981, pp. 337-351.

47
Eikones 1, 12

17
supported by an Eros. In the sea a Triton and Leukotheia are awaiting her, the latter spreading

her veil. Apollo and Sappho’s beloved Phaon are standing aside. Coarelli explains the scene as

symbolizing the freeing of the soul from the burden of matter and referring to

the transition into a new life. He sees the room as a sepulchral chamber rather than the

Neopythagorean basilica of Carcopino.48 The Muse of Lesbos had a mythical predecessor in

Parthenope, the Siren. She is reported to have thrown herself in the sea when her love song did

not affect Odysseus who had himself bound to the mast. The scene is depicted on a stamnos in

the British Museum.49

Of a completely different order was Marcus Curtius' motivation to throw himself

armed and on horseback into the chasm that suddenly opened on the Forum Romanum in 362

BC An oracle had said that it only would close if Rome sacrificed its most valuable asset. A

relief preserved in the Museo Nuovo Capitolino in Rome and an intaglio in the Hermitage

demonstrate the impact of this act of devotio.50

3. The Pyre (10)

48
Ampelius records in his Liber memorialis under the 'miracula quae in terris sunt' on Leucas the mountain from
which Sappho threw herself because of a man (8, 4). Sappho's leap on the 'Horse mosaic' from a rich town house
dated 300-360, described by P. MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak, London 1980, p.94. Description
of the stucco relief in the underground complex near the Porta Maggiore: Filippo Coarelli, Rome. Ein
archäologischer Führer, Freiburg 1975, p.217.

49
BM E 440, ARV 289, 1.

50
Reinach RRGR III, p.204 (CIL VI, 1, 1468); Antique Intaglios in the Hermitage Collection, Leningrad 1976, Pl.
77/78 = G.M.A. Richter, The Engraved Gems of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans II, London 1971, nr. 44.

18
 Giving oneself to the flames was another method that commanded respect. The prototype

of this kind of self-burning is Herakles. The impact of that last episode in his earthly life is

demonstrated by eight representations, Greek as well as Roman, in relief, vase painting and

on a fresco in Pompeii.51

On the edge of historicity is Kroisos' (attempted) self-burning which is told to have taken

place when his capital Sardes was about to be captured by the Persians in 547 BC.52 Already at

an early date, circa 495, the story was recorded on an amphora by Myson in the Louvre.

Dramatic events of this kind were a popular theme as Philostratos’ descriptions of

paintings confirm: when Kapaneus' body was being cremated, his wife Euadne threw herself on

the pyre in order to be completely united with him. Therefore, the ancient art connoisseur

explains, she did not direct the sword against her neck nor hang herself in a halter 'as women

are inclined to do at the death of men'. In the picture Cupids have a task in igniting the pyre,

thus honoring those who enjoyed a perfect love.53

4. Death by Poison (6)

51
There are five reliefs: LIMC Herakles 1715 is only known from Silius Italicus 3, 32-44: a relief in Hercules'
temple in Gadiz; LIMC Herakles 2912 is a limestone relief found near Wiener Neustadt; LIMC Herakles 2913 is
a marble relief at Leipzig University; LIMC Herakles 2914 is a first century AD clay relief medallion from
Orange. Three vase paintings: a red-figure Attic pelike by the Kadmos painter from Vulci in Munich (2360), Frank
Brommer, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, Marburg 19733, p.188 B5 (pl. 30 in Beazley, Attic Red-
Figure Vaise Painters 2, Oxford 1963, p.1186); LIMC Herakles 2909 an Attic bell crater of about 460 BC from
Conca in the Villa Giulia 11688; LIMC Herakles 2910 an Attic psykter, 460-450 BC in a New York private
collection. The only fresco LIMC Herakles 2911 is Pompeii II, 2, 2-5, first century AD.

52
Bakchylides Epinikion 3, 48/49 and Herodotus 1, 86.

53
Eikones 2, 30, 1 9, already referred to in Pantheia's drama (2, 9, 5); there is also a hint at Laodameia, who
burned herself from grief over her Protesilaos.

19
 It needed a Sokrates to make self-poisoning a holy act. Although some stylized

their self-killing by taking hemlock having read the Phaidon, the aristocrats of the Early

Principate preferred the scalpel handled by a medical expert. Taking drugs has only a small

share on the palette of ancient suicide: it accounts for 10% of the recorded cases. The method

was not highly regarded for ethical as well as aesthetic reasons: taking venom was not a

demonstration of strong will as success was not guaranteed. The gamble with death that poison

stands for, accounts for its significant place in the modern pattern in which a suicide attempt

often is an ultimate cry for help and attention. The ancients, however, expected resoluteness.

Therefore hard means were preferred like weapons and persistent refusal of food, called

inedia in Latin and apokarteria in Greek. Moreover, the sight of a poisoned person caused

disgust. In antiquity people wished to preserve their looks beyond death. So it is certainly

without mercy that on Trajan's column a company of Dacians is shown taking poison. 54 The

sculptor appealed to the victor's satisfaction in having driven the enemy to this act of ultimate

despair when the capital Sarmizegetusa was about to be taken. Dacian officials, indicated as

such by the pileum, the cap, scoop from a bowl, distributing the deadly drink among commoners,

marked by their wild hair. To the right of the poisoning scene one man is dying, in the lap of one

mourning pileatus, whereas another man is already lying dead on the ground. The whole

dramatic episode is flanked by other common features of despair among the besieged: people set

their own town aflame on panel CXIX, whereas others flee on panel CXXI. This whole scene is

unique in ancient art as Settis stresses, calling it one of the hapax legomena of the column.55

Here we have a concrete picture of the type that Durkheim called 'le suicide obsidional', the

54
S. Reinach RRGR I, p.362, panel 97.
55
o.c. p. 175

20
collective self-killing of desperate besieged, a scene so often described by ancient

historiographers.56

The few representations of individual suicide by poison are clearly meant to inspire

respect. They concern - with one possible exception - women of high status. On two Pompeian

frescoes we are witness to the moving death of Sophoni(s)ba. She, daughter of the

Carthaginian leader Hasdrubal, had been promised to Masinissa, but for political reasons she was

given in marriage to Syphax. Towards the end of the Second Punic War this Numidian king

made the wrong choice, siding with the Carthaginians against Rome. When he had been

defeated Sophonisba sought refuge with Masinissa, friend of the Romans, but Scipio did not

consent to a bond with the daughter of a notorious enemy and demanded her extradition. In a

last gesture of affection Masinissa handed her a bowl with poison that she drank with

admirable resoluteness. This scene is most impressively shown on the fresco found in the

House of Joseph II in Pompeii. 57

In the light of Kleopatra's notoriety as confirmed by Roman literature her presence in

art is rare and in none of the cases we can be sure. When the frescoes of the New Catacomb at

the Via Latina, dating from the fourth century, were discovered, it was suggested that it was

the Egyptian queen who was depicted in the acrosolium of cubiculum E. At first sight the

interpretation seemed sure vipers coil around the arms of a reclining female figure. This is in line

with the description of Kleopatra’s ’s suicide in the ancient sources; only in later European art

the erotic theme of vipers at her breast emerged. The fact that a pagan topic was taken is in

itself not too amazing. The part concerned of the catacomb has also a Gorgo, a Victoria and an
56
Émile Durkheim, Le suicide, 1897.
57
Pompeii VIII, 2, 38 bis 39, Naples Museo Nazionale 8968 and I, 10, 7 main picture on the north wall, right of
the oecus; K. Schefold, Die Wände Pompejis (=WP), Berlin 1957, pp. 219 and 46. Appian gives the story in Punic
Wars 28. Sjors van Hoof, an ex-student of mine, brought this representation to my notice as well as the Phaidra
and the Kleopatra on the back of a Roman mirror.

21
Amor. These figures, however, all admit an allegorical interpretation whereas it is very hard to

see what the meaning of Kleopatra in this prominent place could be. So it is better to resort to

the alternative interpretation, the goddess of earth, Tellus.58

Another painting, said to have been found in the Villa Hadriana, has the distinctive

feature of the adders around one arm, but experts think that the original has been heavily

reworked, if it is not an outright falsification. 59 So we better leave this dubious piece aside.

Finally in the National Museum of Naples (25490) there is the back of a mirror

showing a seated woman who is breaking down. She could be Dido. In favor of this

interpretation speaks the presence of a Cupid. One of the other two women could well be Anna.

Otherwise one might think of Charmion and Eiras, the two loyal servants who followed

Kleopatra in self-chosen death.60 The snakes at the upper brim of the relief are the strongest

support for seeing the scene as Kleopatra's end, but we cannot be too sure about the

identification.

Possibly there is one male self-poisoner, Ninos, the main figure of a Greek love novel

dated to c. 100 BC. This young king is in love with his cousin Semiramis. Both bear the names

of historical figures, but the story has nothing to do with real events. It is sheer romance, the two

being separated by shipwreck, war and other catastrophes, so the few fragments found in papyri

58
Illustrations and discussion in Antonio Ferrua, Katakomben. Unbekannte Bilder des frühen Christentums unter
der Via Latina, Stuttgart 1991 (original Italian edition: Catacombe sconosciute, una pinacoteca del IV secolo sotto
la Via Latina, Florence 1990), p.98-107, especially p.107 and note 10. The painting is also given in Pierre du
Bourguet S.J., De vroeg-christelijke schilderkunst, Amsterdam 1965, Pl. 110. This book on early Christian art was
published as volume 3 of a series on art history that simultaneously appeared in many countries at that time.

59
S. Reinach, Répertoire de reliefs grecs et romains I (RPGR), Paris 1922, 221, 5: 'prétendue Cléopatre, peinte sur
ardoise (schist); on dit qu'elle a été découverte en 1881. Faux ou entièrement repeint.'

60
Antonius 85.

22
suggest.61 The remains do no give any clue to the content of the scene depicted on a floor mosaic

from Antioch on the Orontes in Syria, c. AD 200: Ninos is shown on his bed with a portrait of

Semiramis in his hand. The drink a young female servant offers, might be poison, the means to

commit suicide in distress. Attempted suicide is commonplace in the Greek novel. 62

5. The Halter of Despair (2)

Above it was pointed out that technical and ethical reasons stood in the way of

representing self-hanging. Only once ‘the rope of ghastly death’ 63 is found in a pagan work of

art. This unique piece is in the gallery of female victims of criminal love that was found in the

villa near the Tor Marancia. It shows a woman having a halter in the hand. The identification is

ascertained by the caption 'Fedra'. So we have Phaidra immediately before she is to put an end to

her life because of her fatal love for her stepson Hippolytos.64 Phaidra's miserable end is

only hinted at.

Such a discretion was not spent by the Christians on Judas the arch-traitor. His self-

murder is the final proof that he of rejected God's grace. Whereas the robber who was

crucified with the Redeemer got remission of his sins and entered paradise, Judas withdrew

and hanged himself. In this way he committed the mortal sin of desperatio, despair of God's

forgiveness.

61
The most recent edition of the fragments is Susan A. Stephens and John J. Winkler, Ancient Greek Novels. The
Fragments, Princeton NJ 1995, p.23 ff.
62
The interpretation is suggested by Thomas Hägg, The Novel in Antiquity, Oxford 1983, Fig. 4, p.19.
63
'nodus informis leti', Aeneis 12, 603 with respect to Amata.

64
Euripides Hippolytos line 779; S. Reinach RPGR p.209 from the villa near Tor Marancia, now in the Sala dell
Nozze Aldobrandine of the Vatican Museums.

23
 One panel of an ivory pyxis in the British Museum, dating from the first quarter of

the fifth century, is dominated by Christ on His Cross, represented not as the Son of Man

whom Gothic art was to represent in His suffering, but as the self-assured victor over death.

On the left side, as a counterpart, Judas hangs on a tree. 65 This is the perfect icon of the

Christian concept of self-killing as sinful self-murder, in St. Augustine’s words: 'Who kills

himself is a murderer' (Qui se ipse occidit, homicida est).66 In the Arena Chapel of Padua

Giotto was to paint the mortal sin of Desperacio as a figure that hanged itself: a triumphant devil

flutters near the ear.

6. Iconometry of Ancient Suicide

What is the significance of the language of images for the picture of ancient suicide?

106 representations were discussed above, out of which 8 for us are virtual, being only known

from descriptions. 67 As to genre they comprise 29 reliefs, 24 vase paintings, 16 wall-paintings,

10 gems, 4 statues and 23 items in various artistic media, among which the 8 shield belts

showing Aias deserve special attention for the reasons stated above.

With regard to the cultures the Greeks are slightly better represented in the

iconography of suicide like they are in the literary sources; they account for 42 out of the 106

65
Wolfgang Fritz Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spätantike und der frühen Mittelalters, Mainz 1952 and later,
nr.116 (British Museum Collection Maskell); an ivory cassette in Brescia and an ivory diptych of the 9/10th
century in the Dome Treasure of Milan (Volbach 232) have similar scenes; the pyxis in British Museum, from the
Maskell Collection is dated 420-430. A color illustration is at hand in the widely distributed Time-Life book,
Imperial Rome, 1965, p.168. A hanged Judas is also depicted on one of the miniatures of the Evangeliarium of
Rossano.

66
De civitate dei 1, 17.
67
Specified in note 16.

24
items, whereas Roman art has 38 entries. In the general picture, based on the literary sources,

the Greeks surpass the Romans: 510 against 482. The number of Etruscan pictures is

comparatively high, with 25 items.68 Suicide well met the Etruscan preference for morbid

scenes, which were well suited for the many urns that have been preserved.

There is a marked difference between the three cultures and the methods they choose to

represent. All the 25 Etruscan works represent the bloody way out, only concerning the model

male as well as the model female suicide, i.e. Aias and Lucretia. The archaic taste dominates

also the Greek view: 36 out of their 42 cases show the use of weapons, Aias on his own

accounting for 25 instances. The Romans offer a relatively more varied and sophisticated

tableau of self-killing with 22 instances of stabbing out of 38 items.

The 106 pictures show 22 cases of female suicide and 76 of male self-killing (the

remaining 8 are couples and mixed groups). The ratio of 22 to 76 in art is not dramatically lower

than the picture offered by literature where we found 273 female against 825 male cases. These

two pictures are even in line what one might assume to have been the reality as 1 female to 3

male suicides is regarded as quite common for pre-industrial societies.69

Two methods are absent from iconography, starvation and provocation. That refusing

food - apokarteria in Greek, Latin: inedia did not lend itself to representation is not hard

to understand. Provocation, however, i.e. seeking death on the battlefield in obedience to

an oracle, could have originated a picture or two, e.g. of one of the Decii Mures: was it the

problem of representing a mass that deterred the ancient artist?

68
For the counting one case, the relief in the Hercules temple in Cadiz, as described by Silius Italicus 3, 32-44 was
regarded as not belonging to any of the three cultures.

69
See tables in Appendix B 10, p.239 in From Autothanasia to Suicide (note 1)

25
 Admittedly the number of cases of provoked death attested by the other sources is rather

small, viz. 29 on 845 cases where a method is stated70, i.e. 3%. So one has to be cautious in

drawing far fetching conclusions. Sometimes a popular figure accounts for a relatively high

share of a suicide method in art: the 8 representations of Herakles, plus one Pantheia and one

Euadne, give self-chosen death by fire 9% of the cases in art, against 5% (45 cases) for the

corpus of literary evidence. Above it was expounded how technical, aesthetic and moral

reasons account for the under-representation of self-hanging in the visual arts: it’s percentage is

only 2 against 17% (141 instances) for the written material. The most striking outcome is the

predominance of weapons in the 'tableau suicidal': with 77% (82 cases) against 36% (308

instances) in literature. More than anything this outcome demonstrates the glorification of

heroic self-killing by the ancient world.

What was said at the start about the significance of literary sources as evidence for the

reality of suicide, i.e. that they present an idealized picture of suicide, holds the more true

for iconography. Visual art represents an even higher level of idealization than literature. 71 In the

simile of the iceberg: if literature is the tip, then art is only the highest peak. The imagery of

ancient suicide presents in an enhanced, condensed way the ancient paradigm of self-killing as

a deliberate, resolute and heroic act.

70
In 322 instances the method of suicide is not explicitly mentioned; often the (military) context suggests the use
of weapons, but to prevent mixing data and conclusions only when the manner was given by the sources the
method was regarded as specified, i.e. in 845 out of 1167 cases.
71
In what degree did the ancients internalize these ideals? Did they tune in their mentality like we all are infected
by the modern sociological and psychological virus? Trying to come as close as possible to the ancient mind, I
investigated the rather few - 13 in all - personal documents. With the only, but notable exception of St.Augustine
they all conform to the norms of resoluteness and volition. See 'Suicide and Parasuicide in Ancient Personal
Testimonies', Crisis. The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention 14.2(1993)76-82.

26
Dr. Anton J.L. van Hooff is senior lecturer in ancient history and classical teacher training at

Nijmegen University, The Netherlands

address:

Van Oldenbarneveltstraat 16B

NL-6512 AW Nijmegen

The Netherlands

Tel/Fax: 00-31-24-3240730

e-mail: a.v.hooff@let.kun.nl

I am very grateful to my colleague Elise Garrison of Texas A & M University, author of

Groaning Tears. Ethical & Dramatic Aspects of Suicide in Greek Tragedy, Leiden 1995, with

whom I share the peculiar interest in ancient suicide, for correcting an earlier draft of the

present article. Thanks are also due to my Nijmegen colleague Nathalie de Haan who as, an

archaeologist, made some valuable comments.

27
Appendix:

Suicide in 106 works of Ancient Art

in alphabetical order; behind the name in brackets the total of attested occurrences

Achilles (weapon, 1)

- skyphos by Brygos painter, Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum Inv. 3710, ARV 380, 171

Aias (weapon, 45)

- LIMC 104-141 (38)

- Brommer, Denkmälerlisten zur griechischen Heldensage III, Marburg 1976: Aias' Selbstmord

1-4 (= Athens NM 6965, 6962, Kunze, Archaische Schildbänder, 18 IVc and XVIIe)(4)

- Olympia B 5160 and 7520 (Bol, Argivische Schilde, Olympische

Forschungen 17, Berlin 1989, p.29)(2)

- Delphi 8546 (Claude Rolley, Museum of Delphi. Bronzes. École française d'Athènes, n.d.,

p.34/35, Fig. 41)

Althaia (weapon, 2)

- LIMC 6-7

Bosporus couple (jump, 1)

- Philostratos Eikones 1,12, 4

28
Brennos (weapon, 1)

- Naples MN 5025

Caecilius Metellus (Quintus of Publius?) (weapon 1)

- schildering meegedragen met die van Cato (niet verwerkt)

Cato Uticensis (weapon, 1)

- Appian Civil Wars 2,101

Curtius (jump, 2)

- Reinach RRGR III, p.204 (= CIL VI 1, 1468)

- G.M.A. Richter, The Engraved Gems of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans II, London 1971,

nr. 44 (Antique Intaglios in the Hermitage Collection, Leningrad 1976, Pl. 77/78

Dacians (3: weapon 2, poison 1)

- Trajan's column XXIV, 59-60 (Settis 30; Reinach RRGR I 341)

- Trajan's column CXL (Settis 258; Reinach RRGR I 362)

- Trajan's column CXX (Settis 228-230; Reinach RRGR I 366)

Decebalus (weapon 3)

-Trajan's column 112 CXLV (Settis 268 ; Reinach RRGR I 367).

- 2 cups of La Graufesenque by L. Cosius, A. Vernhet, Gallia 39(1981) 38

Dido (weapon 1)

29
- Vergilius Vaticanus f.40 (Kurt Weitzman, Late Antique-Early Christian Book Illumination,

New York 1977, p.37/38, Pl. 3)

Euadne, Kapaneus' wife (pyre, 1)

- Philostratos Eikones 2, 30, 2

Gauls killing themselves (weapon 2)

- Monument of Pergamum: man and his wife: Rome MN 8608, Gaul sinking down: Museo

Capitolino

- sarcophagus Vigna Amendola, Reinach RRGR III 205

Herakles (pyre 8)

- LIMC 1751

- LIMC 2909-14

- Munich 2360 (Brommer, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage,

Marburg 19733, p.188 B5)

Iokaste (weapon, 3)

- LIMC 17-18

- statue by Silanion as described by Plutarch Moralia 18C and 674A

Judas (hanging, 1)

30
- panel ivory pyxis British Museum Collection Maskell (Wolfgang Fritz Volbach,

Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters, Mainz 1952 and later, nr. 116)

Kanake (weapon, 2)

- LIMC 3

Kleopatra (poison, 1)

- Naples MN 25490

Kroisos (pyre, 1)

- amphora by Myson in the Louvre G 197, ARV 238, 1

Lucretia (weapon, 3)

- urns Volterra 346, 499, Florence 5769 (J.P. Small, AJA 80(1976)349-360)

Makaria (weapon, 2)

- LIMC 2-3

Menoikeus(weapon, 7)

- LIMC Kapaneus 18-23

- Philostratos Eikones 1, 4, 4

Mithridates (poison, 1)

31
- Appian De bello mithridatico 17, 117

Ninos (poison, 1)

- mosaic Antioch on the Orontes (proposal by Thomas Hägg, The Novel in Antiquity, Oxford

1983, Fig. 4, p.19)

Pantheia (sword, 1)

- Philostratos Eikones 2, 9, 4

Parthenope (jump, 1)

- stamnos British Museum E 440, ARV 289, 1

Phaidra (hanging, 1)

- Reinach RPGR 209, 1

Pyramus and Thisbe (weapon, 6)

- fresco House of Lucretius Fronto (V, 4, 11), Schefold WP 86

- fresco House of 'Venere in bikini' (I, 11, 6), Naples MN photo negative 8502=D3569

- fresco House of Octavius Quartio (II, 2, 2 alias Casa M. Lorei Tiburtini), Schefold WP 43, in

situ

- fresco in Pompeii IX, 5, 14, Schefold WP 260, Naples MN 111483

- Necropolis Portus-Isola Sacra, wall-painting in tomb 87 (G. Calza, La Necropoli del Porto

all'Isola Sacra, Rome 1940, p.114-115, Plate IV, after p.118)

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- mosaic in Dionysus Villa, Nea Paphos, Cyprus (C. Vermeule, Greek and Roman Cyprus,

Boston 1976, p.101 ff.)

Sappho (jump, 2)

- Horse mosaic Carthage Antiquarium

- stucco relief in apsis of Basilica Sotteranea near Porta Maggiore in Rome

Sophoni(s)ba (poison, 2)

- Pompeii VIII, 2, 38, Naples MN 8968, Reinach RPGR 221, 3 (Schefold

WP 219)

- Pompeii I,10, 7 (Schefold WP 46)

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