Secular tragedy replaced mythic sacrificial death with reasoned exemplary death

Evidence

The legend of Socrates’ judicially imposed suicide, Benjamin maintains, constitutes the secularization of classical tragedy, and hence of myth, because it substitutes a reasoned and exemplary death for the sacrificial death of a mythic hero. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 315

Categorization

• SHARE: For anyone into Benjamin’s Ursprung or the theology of martyrdom — Socrates’ trial as the hinge where reasoned death displaces sacrificial death.
• XREF: Juxtaposes against the vaulted sacrifice article — reasoned exemplary death vs. mythic sacrificial death as a secularization axis.