Herostratus

Herostratus

Herostratus, or Eratostratus, was a Greek arsonist who destroyed the Temple of Artemis in an attempt to achieve infamy. Considered an early terrorist, his crime prefigured modern acts of terrorism, including nineteenth-century anarchist violence and the September 11 attacks. His name has become an eponym for someone who commits a criminal act solely to become famous, while the so-called Herostratus syndrome afflicts "people who perpetrate odious attacks for the sake of infamy." An obscure character, Herostratus burned the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, in 356 BCE. He was swiftly arrested and tortured to death, when he confessed his motive: to gain everlasting fame. The arson prompted he creation of a damnatio memoriae law forbidding anyone from mentioning his name, although many ancient writers, including one contemporary of the arson, documented him. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Herostratus is the 10th most popular extremist, the 98th most popular biography from Türkiye (down from 76th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Turkish Extremist.

Herostratus was a Greek historian who is most famous for his work "The Persian Wars" which described the Greco-Persian Wars.