Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease

ABSTRACT Epilepsy is one of the most dreaded and terrifying human afflictions. One of the many names it has received was Sacred Disease, during Greek times. Heracles served as a source of the divine connotation that epilepsy received in ancient times, as he was one of the most important demigods in...

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Main Authors: Eduardo ORREGO-GONZÁLEZ, Ana PERALTA-GARCÍA, Leonardo PALACIOS-SÁNCHEZ
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Thieme Revinter Publicações 2020-10-01
Series:Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
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Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2020001000660&tlng=en
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author Eduardo ORREGO-GONZÁLEZ
Ana PERALTA-GARCÍA
Leonardo PALACIOS-SÁNCHEZ
author_facet Eduardo ORREGO-GONZÁLEZ
Ana PERALTA-GARCÍA
Leonardo PALACIOS-SÁNCHEZ
author_sort Eduardo ORREGO-GONZÁLEZ
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Epilepsy is one of the most dreaded and terrifying human afflictions. One of the many names it has received was Sacred Disease, during Greek times. Heracles served as a source of the divine connotation that epilepsy received in ancient times, as he was one of the most important demigods in Greek mythology. However, several authors have attributed Heracles’ actions to a seizure, including Hippocrates, who described the sacred disease on his “Corpus Hippocraticum.” This paper reviewed some of the publications on the myth and content of the text of Hippocrates, in relation to the current knowledge of the disease.
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institution DOAJ
issn 1678-4227
language English
publishDate 2020-10-01
publisher Thieme Revinter Publicações
record_format Article
series Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
spelling doaj-art-51131ddfcdbc4df098a1748e50d692902025-08-20T03:18:10ZengThieme Revinter PublicaçõesArquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria1678-42272020-10-01781066066210.1590/0004-282x20200085Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred diseaseEduardo ORREGO-GONZÁLEZhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8406-4153Ana PERALTA-GARCÍAhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6012-0416Leonardo PALACIOS-SÁNCHEZhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6792-5855ABSTRACT Epilepsy is one of the most dreaded and terrifying human afflictions. One of the many names it has received was Sacred Disease, during Greek times. Heracles served as a source of the divine connotation that epilepsy received in ancient times, as he was one of the most important demigods in Greek mythology. However, several authors have attributed Heracles’ actions to a seizure, including Hippocrates, who described the sacred disease on his “Corpus Hippocraticum.” This paper reviewed some of the publications on the myth and content of the text of Hippocrates, in relation to the current knowledge of the disease.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2020001000660&tlng=enEpilepsyMythologyNeurosciencesHistory of Medicine
spellingShingle Eduardo ORREGO-GONZÁLEZ
Ana PERALTA-GARCÍA
Leonardo PALACIOS-SÁNCHEZ
Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease
Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
Epilepsy
Mythology
Neurosciences
History of Medicine
title Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease
title_full Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease
title_fullStr Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease
title_full_unstemmed Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease
title_short Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease
title_sort heracles and epilepsy the sacred disease
topic Epilepsy
Mythology
Neurosciences
History of Medicine
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2020001000660&tlng=en
work_keys_str_mv AT eduardoorregogonzalez heraclesandepilepsythesacreddisease
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