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That the ancient meaning of an easy death came to the fore again in the early modern period can be seen from its definition in the 18th century Zedlers Universallexikon: Euthanasia: a very gentle and quiet death, which happens without painful convulsions. The word comes from ευ, bene, well, and θανατος, mors, death. [32]
In ancient India, there were two forms of altruistic suicide practiced. Jauhar was a mass suicide by women of a community because their menfolk suffered defeat in battle, and the women feared retribution, rape, enslavement , or worse by the enemy soldiers.
In ancient Greece, non-voluntary euthanasia of children was practiced as an early form of eugenics, the belief and practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population, usually by withdrawing care (i.e. passive euthanasia) rather than a physical extermination, an act termed as “exposure”.
Active euthanasia is still ruled illegal, whereas passive euthanasia is legal and embraced as “Songenshi” or “death with dignity as the withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging treatment.” (Kumar, 2023) The Japanese point of view on suicide is not sinful, but rather the act of assisted suicide being considered as a murder-for-hire ...
At times, suicide played a prominent role in ancient legend and history, like with Ajax the Great, who killed himself in the Trojan War, and Lucretia, whose suicide in around 510 B.C. initiated the revolt that displaced the Roman Kingdom with the Roman Republic. One early Greek historical person to die by suicide was Empedocles around 434 B.C ...
Senicide, also known as geronticide or gerontocide, is the practice of killing the elderly.This killing of the elderly can be characterized by both active and passive methods as senio-euthanasia or altruistic self-sacrifice.
Forced suicide was a common means of execution in ancient Greece and Rome. As a mark of respect it was generally reserved for aristocrats sentenced to death; the victims would either drink hemlock or fall on their swords. Economic motivations prompted some suicides in ancient Rome.
Euthanasia may also be acceptable if it is used for selfless motives. On the other hand, by helping to end a life, even one filled with suffering, a person is disturbing the timing of the cycle of death and rebirth. This is a bad thing to do, and those involved in the euthanasia will take on the remaining karma of the patient.