patricide

Patricide is (i) the act of killing one's father, or (ii) a person who kills his or her father. The word patricide derives from the Latin word pater (father) and the Latin suffix -cida (cutter or killer). Patricide is a sub-form of parricide, which is defined as an act of killing a close relative.

Compare with matricide (the killing of one's mother), filicide (the killing of a child by his or her parent), fratricide (the killing of one's sibling, in particular a brother-compare to sororicide), regicide (the killing of a monarch), suicide (killing oneself) and homicide (killing another person).

Patricides in religions and cultures

Patricide is a common archetype prevalent throughout many religions and cultures, particularly Greek culture.

• In the Greek creation epic, Cronus was poisoned by his son Zeus and wife Rhea.
• Apsu, in the Babylonian creation epic the Enûma Elish, was killed by his son Ea in the struggle for supremacy among the gods.
• Oedipus was fated to kill his father, a king, and marry his mother. His parents attempted to prevent this by leaving him on the side of a mountain as an infant. He was found and raised by a farmer. Once grown, Oedipus meets his father while his father is travelling and kills him. He then marries his mother to become king, unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy.
• Pelias was killed by his daughters, who were deceived by Medea into thinking he could be resurrected.
• In Chinese belief, people who commit patricide (or matricide) will be killed by a lightning strike as a punishment from filial and warrior deity Erlang Shen.

Known or suspected historical patricides

• Emperor Yang of Sui in Chinese history allegedly killed his father, Emperor Wen of Sui.
• Beatrice Cenci, Roman noblewoman who, according to legend, killed her father after he imprisoned and raped her. She was condemned and beheaded for the crime along with her brother and stepmother in 1599.
• Lizzie Borden (1860-1927) allegedly killed her father and stepmother with an ax in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. She was acquitted of the crime, but her guilt is still disputed.
• Iyasus I of Ethiopia (1682-1706), one of the great warrior emperors of Ethiopia, was deposed by his son Tekle Haymanot in 1706 and subsequently assassinated.
• Chiyo Aizawa murdered her own father who raped her on October 5, 1968 in Japan. The incident changed the Japanese criminal law.
• Sarah Marie Johnson (1987- ), an Idaho girl who was convicted of killing both parents on the morning of 2 September 2003.
• Dipendra of Nepal (1971-2001) reportedly massacred much of his family at a royal dinner on June 1, 2001, including his father King Birendra, mother, brother, and sister.
• Christopher Porco (1983- ), was convicted on Thursday, August 10, 2006 of the murder of his father and attempted murder of his mother with an axe.
• The Menendez Brothers were convicted during a highly publicized trial in July of 1996 for the shotgun killings of their parents in 1989.

Patricides in fiction

• The 2007 short film Patricide
• In the 2000 film Gladiator, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was murdered by his son, who later became the Emperor Commodus.
• In the survival-horror videogame Silent Hill 2, Angela Orosco kills her father, and her guilt drives her to the cursed town of Silent Hill.
• In the novel Angels and Demons, where the Camerlengo murders the Pope, only to learn that the Pope was his father through artificial insemination.
• In the 1979 Anime Mobile Suit Gundam, Gihren Zabi kills his father, Degwin Zabi.
• The novel The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, is centered on a patricide.
• The Patricide is a novel by Alexander Kazbegi.
• Ronald DeFeo, Jr. became the inspiration for The Amityville Horror.
• The Metabarons by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez feature patricide as a rite of passage.
• In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it is understood that Voldemort had killed his muggle father.
• Solid Snake killed his "father" (actually his clone-source) in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Mirroring this event, Raiden kills Solidus Snake, his adoptive father, in Sons of Liberty.
• In Final Fantasy X, Maester Seymour, leader of the Guado, rose to power after murdering his father, Lord Jyscal.
• In Warcraft 3, Arthas, Prince of Lordaeron, kills his father King Terenas, and delivers Lordaeron to the Undead Scourge.
• In It by Stephen King, Henry Bowers killed his father in a fit of rage with a switch-blade.
• Patricide is a common theme on the show Lost. Two main characters, Kate Austen and Benjamin Linus, have committed it. Another character, John Locke, did not actually kill his father, but he did conspire to murder him.

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