In ancient Greek mythology and literature, the personification of manslaughter. The name can be used in the singular or the plural since it represents a force as much as, if not more than, a mythical person.
References to this figure are few; Hesiod mentions a group of daemons called the Androktasiai who were found on battlefields where men killed each other. Like many other disagreeable personae of Greek myth, Androktasia was the son of Eris.
While little reference to the name is made in ancient or modern works, the theme of Androktasia is a key idea in art, prominent in works from Homer's Iliad to Braveheart and in every one of the many representations of death in battle.
Androktasia literally means "man-killing" and is neither murder nor accidental death but is the result of open warfare. Killing on the battlefield is the basic concept of Androktasia. Killing by ambush or entrapment is not but if it's conducted as part of warfare it may qualify. Killing in a duel or a deathmatch is another form. The definition is to some extent open to interpretation according to the times and culture but the basic premise is that of manslaughter in formal challenge-and-response battle.