Metzger N (2023)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2023
Book Volume: 34
Pages Range: 146-161
Journal Issue: 2
DOI: 10.1177/0957154X231157187
Ancient Greek and Latin medical authors considered a flight into solitude a compelling sign of mental disturbance, frequently described as misanthropia, a word fraught with meaning beyond the medical discourse. The fictionalised character Timon of Athens, the quintessential misanthrope, can shed light on ancient cultural concepts of self-imposed isolation from human contact. To cope with the sense of unease this deviant behaviour induced, misanthropia was explained as 'madness', ridiculed in various genres of humour, morally condemned in philosophy, and ultimately demonized in Christian cosmology. These various attempts at containment echo in the medical works of the age, making it impossible to comprehend the concept of misanthropia in ancient medicine without taking full account of the cultural context.
APA:
Metzger, N. (2023). A mad yearning for solitude: Timon the Misanthrope and his relevance to the study of ancient psychopathology. History of Psychiatry, 34(2), 146-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X231157187
MLA:
Metzger, Nadine. "A mad yearning for solitude: Timon the Misanthrope and his relevance to the study of ancient psychopathology." History of Psychiatry 34.2 (2023): 146-161.
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