Your love is like bad medicine : the medical tradition of lovesickness in the legends of hippocrates and erasistratus of CEOS

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dc.contributor.authorRibeiro, L. F. C.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-25T13:48:35Z
dc.date.available2021-03-25T13:48:35Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.descriptionCITATION: Ribeiro, L. F. C. 2020. Your love is like bad medicine : the medical tradition of lovesickness in the legends of hippocrates and erasistratus of CEOS. Akroterion, 65:63-88, doi:10.7445/65-0-1024.
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://akroterion.journals.ac.za
dc.description.abstractThe image of the lover physically afflicted by erōs, with erratic pulse and fiery flushes under the skin, goes back at least as far as Sappho. Ancient doctors like Galen and Oribasius of Pergamon saw the lovesick as a patient with a real disease in need of medical intervention. In Western medieval medicine, the disease had various names, such as amor heroes and erotomania. This study defines lovesickness as erotomania, a psychosomatic illness with depressive symptoms caused by unrequited love, with its roots sometimes sought in a humoral imbalance of black bile, an excess of seminal fluid or in some inflammation of the brain. It traces this tradition to the anecdotes about the physicians Hippocrates and Erasistratus of Ceos on how they diagnosed and treated royal patients suffering from lovesickness. It is argued that these stories reflect real-life medical debates. The anecdotes suggest the cause of the disease to have been seen as psychic rather than purely physiological and somatic, calling for a therapy one might term psychological. They suggest the choice treatment for a patient suffering from sick unrequited love was to requite the demands of erōs.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttps://akroterion.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/1024
dc.description.versionPublisher's version
dc.format.extent26 pages
dc.identifier.citationRibeiro, L. F. C. 2020. Your love is like bad medicine : the medical tradition of lovesickness in the legends of hippocrates and erasistratus of CEOS. Akroterion, 65:63-88, doi:10.7445/65-0-1024
dc.identifier.issn2079-2883 (online)
dc.identifier.issn0303-1896 (print)
dc.identifier.otherdoi:10.7445/65-0-1024
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109710
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch University, Department of Ancient Studies
dc.rights.holderAuthor retains copyright
dc.subjectLovesicknessen_ZA
dc.subjectLover's maladyen_ZA
dc.subjectLove's longingsen_ZA
dc.subjectMelancholic loveen_ZA
dc.subjectErotomaniaen_ZA
dc.subjectErotic delusionen_ZA
dc.subjectParanoia eroticaen_ZA
dc.subjectErōs (The Greek word)en_ZA
dc.subjectSex role -- Psyhological aspectsen_ZA
dc.subjectClassical literature -- History and criticismen_ZA
dc.subjectPsychology in literatureen_ZA
dc.subjectMelancholy in literatureen_ZA
dc.subjectLove in literatureen_ZA
dc.subjectDepression, Mental, in literatureen_ZA
dc.subjectMedicine, Medievalen_ZA
dc.subjectLovesickness in literatureen_ZA
dc.subjectMedicine -- History -- To 1500en_ZA
dc.subjectHippocratesen_ZA
dc.subjectHippokratesen_ZA
dc.subjectErasistratus of CEOS -- Active 3rd century B.C.en_ZA
dc.subjectErasistratos, die KEOS -- Active 3rd century B.C.en_ZA
dc.titleYour love is like bad medicine : the medical tradition of lovesickness in the legends of hippocrates and erasistratus of CEOSen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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