Tag: End of Life
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The death of Emperor Caesar Augustus
Augustus’s death in CE 14 ended one of the most remarkable lives in Roman history. Born Gaius Octavius in 63 BCE, he was adopted posthumously by Julius Caesar as his son and chief heir. After Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, he formed an alliance with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, hunted down Caesar’s…
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The death of Joseph Stalin
On March 1, 1953, the most feared man in the world lay on the floor dying in the Kuntsevo Dacha, outside Moscow, in a pool of his own urine. He had been there for hours. Guards had discovered him sometime after midnight—crumpled beside his bed, a half-empty glass of mineral water nearby—but no one dared…
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The death of Cicero
The death of Marcus Tullius Cicero marked the end of one of the most brilliant careers in the history of the Roman Republic. Cicero was not only a statesman and lawyer but also a philosopher, writer, and defender of republican government. His assassination in 43 BCE symbolized the collapse of the Roman Republic and the…
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The great uncertainty
Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece It was one of those episodes that often appear in works of fiction: the unusual circumstance, the odd coincidence, the thunderbolt out of a clear sky; an event that upsets the usual order of things, injects suspense, and drives the story according to the author’s fancy. Only this was not fiction but…
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Death, part of life itself: Vision of a surgeon
Miguel Vassallo PalermoElena Sophia HernandezJosé Manuel GarcíaRhayniveth SequeraKeldrin PáezCaracas, Venezuela Since the dawn of humanity, humans have tried to find meaning in death. People often fear the dying process itself, what comes after death, and the unknown.1 Feelings of powerlessness lead us to surround death with beliefs, rituals, and cultural expressions. From a religious point…
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Procession of honor
Nancy ChedidCambridge, Massachusetts, United States We all heard the alarm. Strident and jarring. As medical interns in our eighth month of training—our nerves primed, our blood already rising—we steeled ourselves for the announcement that must follow. Was it a cardiac arrest? An ambulance, rushing accident victims to the emergency room? A fire? No. The voice…
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Remembering George
Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece It is early morning on New Year’s Eve, and as I am about to get up from a good night’s sleep, I remember George. There were three of us who had graduated together from the same high school class half a century ago and subsequently went into medicine. University admission was the…
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Burial in modern Greece
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden While much is known about funeral customs in ancient Greece, the particulars of burial in modern Greece have received little outside attention. Today, one half of the population of Greece lives in the two largest cities, Athens and Thessaloniki. There is not enough space in big urban centers to conduct burials that…
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The self-destructive urge
JMS PearceHull, England Preservation of life is often an unwritten axiom of medical practice. Sections on therapeutics in medical books and papers usually assume the obvious: aim to preserve or extend life. They rarely discuss the alternative harm or good that results from allowing nature to take its course unhampered. There are elements in humans…
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Book review: Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Immortality
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England The subjects of ageing, death, and immortality have long preoccupied human thoughts and culture. The ancient Egyptians practiced mummification out of a belief in an afterlife. Buddhists and Hindus believe in reincarnation with the immortal soul living on in another body. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam also have rites and rituals that…