Greek Shame?

[Ursus]

The highest cultural virtue in ancient Greece was arete - honor and excellence from being great at something. For most Greek city-states outside Athens, warrior arete a la the Homeric heroes was the highest ideal. Falling far short of that goal would bring dishonor and disgrace.

 

Other cultural taboos in Ancient Greece would be: not respecting the dead and not burying them properly (see Achilles dragging Hector's corpse around in his chariot), breaking an oath sworn before the gods (for which the offender was required to dedicate a statue to the gods), patricide, and (before the Hellenistic era) adopting the "effeminate" and "subservient" manners of Orientalism.