In a system in which individuals used the potlatch as a means of competing for status there would, inevitably, have been a tendency towards escalation. It is probably in this context that we should attempt to understand the Poseidonian account of the individuals who submitted themselves to death having acquired and distributed rich gifts. By sacrificing their lives solely in the interests of being able to redistribute the gifts they had received to their friends and kin, they were indulging in an extreme form of potlatch. The heady competitive atmosphere of the feast, the liberal consumption of alcohol, and a belief in the afterlife will all have contributed to the individual’s willingness to submit to death in the interests of renown.
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