Start Date
4-20-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
4-20-2017 10:15 AM
Disciplines
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity | Ancient Philosophy
Subjects
Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism, Mental illness in literature, Greek literature -- History and criticism, Greece -- Civilization -- To 146 B.C., Mental illness -- Greece -- Athens -- Public opinion
Abstract
It is a basic understanding of modern medicine that mental illness is a disorder of the mind. But from where did this notion originate? In Homer’s popular epics, mental afflictions such as madness and depression are described as divine punishments rather than true mental illness. By the Hellenistic Age, Greek medical journals show a rejection of this divine explanation in favor of the mind. What changed in Greece? This paper tracks the Greek's understanding and conceptualization of madness throughout history and unites disciplines of literature, politics, tragedy, and philosophy to argue that modern understanding of mental illness has its earliest origins in the culture and strife of fifth-century B.C. Athens.
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Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19804
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons
The Notion of Madness in Literature, Philosophy, and Tragedy: Evolving Conceptions of Mental Illness in Athens
It is a basic understanding of modern medicine that mental illness is a disorder of the mind. But from where did this notion originate? In Homer’s popular epics, mental afflictions such as madness and depression are described as divine punishments rather than true mental illness. By the Hellenistic Age, Greek medical journals show a rejection of this divine explanation in favor of the mind. What changed in Greece? This paper tracks the Greek's understanding and conceptualization of madness throughout history and unites disciplines of literature, politics, tragedy, and philosophy to argue that modern understanding of mental illness has its earliest origins in the culture and strife of fifth-century B.C. Athens.
Notes
2nd place winner of the Karen E. Hoppes Young Historians Award for Outstanding Research and Writing.