July 21 – Anniversary of an Arson

nPostednon July 21, 2015

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Onnthis date more than 2,000 years ago, a man named Herostratus wantednto become widely known. It’s too bad he wasn’t amazingly skilled atnathletics or art, because then perhaps he would have poured hisnambition into those fields. But apparently he couldn’t come up with anbetter plan for achieving fame than to destroy somethingnimportant!

What could he destroy that would immortalize hisnname? Herostratus decided on the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

nThisnbuilding was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.n

Artemis is the Ancient Greek goddess of the hunt (and is nownlinked to the Roman goddess Diana). This particular temple was builtnin what is today part of Turkey. It was built about a thousand yearsnbefore Herostratus’s time, but in the 7^th Century BCE, thenbuilding had been destroyed by a flood. It was finally reconstructednafter a decade of work around 550 BCE. n

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nHerostratusnset fire to the Temple on this date in 356 BCE.

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nAlthough portions of the Temple (including all those columns) were built out of marble – and stone doesn’t burn! – Herostratus burned down thenTemple by setting fire to the wooden roof beams.

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nAfternhe did his criminal act, Herostratus didn’t try to run away – henproudly claimed credit for the arson. It was obvious that the crimenwas a sick attempt to achieve notoriety, so the Ephesian authoritiesndidn’t just punish Herostratus by executing him, they also TRIED tonmake sure that nobody else ever did a horrible crime just to have hisnor her name immortalized. The authorities forbid any mention ofnHerostratus’s name, and they threatened to execute anyone who brokenthat rule! (A bit harsh, I feel!)

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But their idea didn’t work.nThe historian Theopompus wrote about Herostratus’s deed, includingnnaming the villain, and Herostratus’s infamy lives on to this day!

n(Some scholars say that Herostratus was not the arsonist’s name – that, indeed, the law against uttering his name worked, after all, and that we have no idea of the name of the man who destroyed the Temple. If that is the case, then Herostratus is the term we use to replace the real name.)

nEver since then, Herostrat has meant a criminal who would do anything for notoriety, in German; also, Herostratic fame in English means “fame at any cost.” An example of is the fellow who murdered musician John Lennon just so that he would be famous, so that people would know his name. (And I refuse to add to people knowing his name by giving it here!)

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Science fiction author David Brin says thatnwe should not be making into household names the monsters who blow up buildings and shoot school kids and do othernhorrible acts. He thought that, the more infamy we heap upon thesensick individuals – the more TV coverage and specials, the morenmagazine covers, the more interviews of the criminals and theirnfamilies and former schoolmates – the more OTHER people will beninclined to try to garner notoriety for themselves.

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Ofncourse, there is going to be news coverage about horrible crimes, butnBrin suggests that we resist the urge to splash the images ofnthe criminals around, and that, instead of making their names famous,nwe refer to them as something like “Doofus # __.”

I agree with Brin. There is an organization with a similar idea called “No Notoriety: No Name. No Photo. No Notoriety.”

nWhat do you think?

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nBynthe way…

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nChecknout the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World herenand here,nand the current list of the New7Wonders of the World over here and the Seven Wonders ofnthe Modern World here.