Avunculicide Explained

Avunculicide is the act of killing an uncle.^[1] The word can also refer to someone who commits such an act. The term is derived from the Latin words avunculus meaning "maternal uncle" and caedere meaning "to cut down" or "to kill". Edmunds suggests that in mythology avunculicide is a substitute for parricide. The killing of a nephew is a nepoticide.^{[1] [2]}

In history

• The mythological founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, accidentally killed their grand-uncle, Amulius.
• Caligula was suspected of assisting with the murder of his great-uncle Tiberius, whom he succeeded as emperor.
• Claudius was apparently poisoned by his niece Agrippina the Younger, so her son Nero could succeed.
• In 51, Rhadamistus killed his uncle Mithridates of Armenia.
• In 685, Hlothhere of Kent succumbed to his wounds after his nephew Eadric of Kent led the South-Saxons to take his throne.^[3]
• In 1113, Dharanindravarman I was killed in battle by his great-nephew Suryavarman II, so he could become king of the Khmer Empire.
• In 1385, Bernabò Visconti died after his nephew Gian Galeazzo Visconti had him imprisoned and presumably poisoned.^[4]
• In 1845, Prime Minister Mathabarsingh Thapa of Nepal was assassinated by his nephew, Jung Bahadur Kunwar
• In 1975, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by his nephew, Faisal bin Musa'id.^[5]
• In 1979, President Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea was executed after a coup d'état by his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo^[6]
• In 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal killed his uncle Dhirendra during the Nepalese royal massacre.
• In 2013, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of his maternal uncle-in-law, Jang Song-thaek.

See also

• Avunculate
• Suicide, the killing of oneself

Familial killing terms:

• Filicide, the killing of one's child
• Fratricide, the killing of one's brother
• Mariticide, the killing of one's husband
• Matricide, the killing of one's mother
• Parricide, the killing of one's parents or another close relative
• Patricide, the killing of one's father
• Prolicide, the killing of one's offspring
• Sororicide, the killing of one's sister
• Uxoricide, the killing of one's wife

Non-familial killing terms from the same root:

• Deicide, the killing of a god
• Genocide, the systematic killing of a large group of people, usually an entire ethnic, racial, religious or national group
• Homicide, the killing of a human
• Infanticide, the killing of an infant from birth to 12 months
• Regicide, the killing of a monarch (king or ruler)
• Tyrannicide, the killing of a tyrant
• Feminicide, the gender-based killing of a woman
• Androcide, the gender-based killing of a man

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20121103125555/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898509,00.html?promoid=googlep "Nepoticide v. Avunculicide"
2. Book: Edmunds L . Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook . University of Wisconsin Press, 1995 . 0-299-14854-8 . 64. November 1995 .
3. Book: Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Oxford University Press: J. McClure and R. Collins. 2008. 222. Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
4. Book: Barbara Tuchman. A Distant Mirror . New York . A.A. Knopf . 1978. 418. Barbara Tuchman. A Distant Mirror.
5. News: 1975: Saudi's King Faisal assassinated, BBC On this Day . March 25, 1975. BBC News.
6. News: Equatorial Guinea 'thwarts coup attempt' . 29 January 2019 . 3 January 2018.