Interesting Random Facts--Herostratus
Herostratus burned down the Temple of Artemis in the 4th Century B.C. He did it because he didn't want to be forgotten when he died.
It was such a stupid reason to burn down a temple....but the irony is that it worked. We still remember Herostratus's name today (unlike 99.99% of the people in 4th Century B.C.). So he wins, I guess.
Today, his name has become a metonym for someone who commits a criminal act in order to become noted.
(Via Wikipedia)
That is interesting -- this is the first I've heard of the guy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Whisky. It's always great when someone else finds also these Interesting Random Facts to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI remember this little factiod from an article I read in Time Magazine way back in my adolescence. I forget what the article was about--crime, or over-population, or memory, or something... But for whatever reason, this little factoid stuck in my mind even though I forget the rest of the article.
(I also remember the writer of the article commentating that, as much as we wish to repudiate the act, we have to admit that it worked--the guy got what he wanted. His name is still remembered.)
Recently I was teaching one of my classes about the 7 wonders of the ancient world. (It came up in one of the textbooks we were using). And we watched a video on it, in which the video said that the Temple of Artemis (one of the original 7 wonders) was destroyed by an intentionally set fire. And I thought to myself, "Hey, I wonder if it's that same guy I remember reading about in Time Magazine all those years ago." And I searched Wikipedia, and.... sure enough.