On the night of July 21, 356 BC, the arsonist Herostratos destroyed the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. As noted by historian Albert Borowitz, Herostratos was “a shadowy figure of whose life nothing is known before he was apprehended, tortured, and executed.” Why did Herostratos burn down the Temple of Artemis? Borowitz says, “The ancients concurred that Herostratos was moved by a craving for a fame that would be infinite in time and/or in space.”
Hoping to curtail copycats seeking fame, Herostratos’s death penalty was accompanied by an edict that banned mentioning his name. But the prohibition was ineffective, and as this IFOD proves, his name lives in infamy today.
Seeking Fame For Immorality
It’s an innate human quality to want to leave a legacy — to be remembered and to have mattered. We want to make a mark that endures beyond our death. Researchers from the University of Kentucky think we desire to leave a legacy because it helps us “transcend discomfort with the idea of death and perhaps attain a limited form of immortality.”
There are various ways to leave a legacy. People commonly view legacy as passing on their values, material possessions, or genetics through having children. Additionally, achieving fame is also a mechanism for being remembered past death. Achievement through sports, politics, and creative endeavors can lead to being remembered beyond just one’s friends and family past death.
While achieving fame usually occurs through positive endeavors like writing a best-selling book, starring in a blockbuster movie, being a star athlete, or being uber-successful in business, fame can also be achieved negatively. For instance, Charles Ponzi, Bernie Madoff, and Elizabeth Holmes all achieved fame through grand fraudulent schemes. Likewise, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy are household names because they were serial killers.
The Herostratos Syndrome
Referencing Herostratos’s desire for infamy in burning down the Temple of Artemis, the “Herostratos Syndrome” refers to the perpetration of “a violent act or series of violent acts motivated in whole or in part by a craving for notoriety or self-glorification.” Psychologists think that the desire for fame is one of the motivations for terrorism, mass shootings, and other sensational crimes. They surmise that the Herostratos Syndrome and devotion to some cause combine to motivate the individual to commit their crime. For some, gaining fame may be the driving motivation, while fame may be more of a by-product for others.
There is evidence that a desire for fame motivates some criminals. For example, the AP noted, “The Columbine shooters, in particular, have an almost cult-like status, with some followers seeking to emulate their trench-coat attire and expressing admiration for their crime, which some have attributed to bullying. The gunman in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting kept a detailed journal of decades’ worth of mass shootings.”
Researchers at the Toulouse School of Economics in France suggest that in order to reduce the effects of the Herostratos Syndrome, policies “aimed at countering this type of violence should focus on trivializing these attacks and reducing the publicity that they get in the media.” Specifically, they suggest that crimes of a sensational nature be tracked in a centralized way and assigned a code that the media would use to refer to the event. For example, “EJK2678 would mean “the 2678th killer of European Jews,” SCK136 would mean “the 136th killer of children at school,” or PC59 would mean “the 59th plane crasher.” The aim would be to make potential killers realize how many other crimes of this nature have already been perpetrated and how little fame they’ll achieve by being a copycat.
Along these lines, there has been a coordinated effort by the media to limit naming the perpetrators of mass shootings following the 2012 movie theater shooting in Denver, partially due to one of the victim’s parents creating the “No Notoriety” movement. Plus, in 2018, the federal Commission on School Safety called on the media to refrain from reporting the names and photos of mass shooters. For example, NPR’s standards for mass shootings are: Use the name of the killer sparingly and focus on the victims.
Will this work? Maybe.
Another thought provoking iFOD, Kiefer! I see an interesting dilemma after such tragedies: Many family victims want to garner support for meaningful change by applying immense effort for publicity, but, as you point out, there is serious downside. I had not heard of a ‘media code’ but it seems like a great solution; the acts still get publicity but the perpetrator no longer gets the personalized infamy. I’m reminded of sad events from 6th grade in the suburbs of Chicago. There was a spate of child suicides (including a girl in my home room of 20 kids). Somehow “they” (no idea who in the media?) collectively agreed to stop reporting the suicides on TV in the hopes the rate would decrease; I hope it worked. It’s difficult to imagine what must be going on in these people’s heads that lead to such tragic actions. Mental health is exceptionally challenging.