Mental Disorders in the Classical World

W.V. Harris is Shepherd Professor of History at Columbia University and Director of the university's Center for the Ancient Mediterranean. He has written widely on psychological aspects of ancient history. In 2008 he received a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award, which has helped to finance research into mental disorders in antiquity.Contributors: Véronique Boudon-Millot, Christoper Gill, W.V. Harris, Brooke Holmes, Julian C. Hughes, Jacques Jouanna, George Kazantzidis, Helen King, David Konstan, Roberto Lo Presti, Glenn W. Most, Vivian Nutton, Peter Pormann, Suzanne Said, Maria Michela Sassi, Bennett Simon, Chiara Thumiger, Jerry Toner, Peter Toohey, Philip van der Eijk, and Katja Vogt.

• AcknowledgementsList of ContributorsList of AbbreviationsINTRODUCTORYI. William V. Harris, Thinking about Mental Disorders in Classical AntiquityCURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS II. Bennett Simon, 'Carving Nature at the Joints': the Dream of a Perfect Classification of Mental IllnessIII. Julian C. Hughes, If Only the Ancients Had Had the DSM, All Would Have Been Crystal Clear: Reflections on Diagnosis GREEK CLASSIFICATIONS IV. Chiara Thumiger, The Early Greek Medical Vocabulary of Insanity: Semantics and DistributionV. Jacques Jouanna and Véronique Boudon-Millot, The Typology and Etiology of Madness in Ancient Greek Medical and Philosophical Writing VI. Vivian Nutton, Galenic Madness VII. Véronique Boudon-Millot, What Is a Mental Illness, and how Can it Be Treated? Galen’s Reply as a Doctor and Philosopher VIII. Brooke Holmes, Disturbing Connections: Sympathetic Affections, Mental Disorder, and the Elusive Soul in Galen IX. Katja Maria Vogt, Plato on Madness and the Good Life PARTICULAR SYNDROMESX. Roberto Lo Presti, Mental Disorder and the Perils of Definition: Characterizing Epilepsy in Greek Scientific Discourse (5th-4th Centuries B.C.E.) XI. Peter E. Pormann, Medical Epistemology and Melancholy: Rufus of Ephesus and MiskawayhXII. George Kazantzidis, 'Quem nos furorem, μελαγχολίαν illi vocant': Cicero on MelancholyXIII. Helen King, Fear of Flute Girls, Fear of Falling SYMPTOMS, CURES AND THERAPYXIV. William V. Harris, Greek and Roman Hallucinations XV. Philip van der Eijk, Cure and the (In)curability of Mental Disorders in Ancient Medical and Philosophical Thought XVI. Christopher Gill, Philosophical Therapy as Preventive Psychological Medicine FROM HOMER TO ATTIC TRAGEDYXVII. Suzanne Said, From Homeric ate to Tragic Madness XVIII. Glenn W. Most, The Madness of Tragedy MENTAL DISORDERS AND RESPONSIBILITY XIX. Maria Michela Sassi, Mental Illness, Moral Error, and Responsibility in Late Plato XX. David Konstan, The Rhetoric of the Insanity PleaA ROMAN CODAXXI. Peter Toohey, Madness in the Digest XXII. J. P. Toner, The Psychological Impact of Disasters in the Age of Justinian BibliographyIndex