Greek Drama and Disease: Ancient Parallels to Modern Perspectives
Arts and Sciences
If there is one consistent aspect across cultures and time, it would be the human race's struggle with disease, mental or physical. Diseases of course are perceived differently given a people group's scientific and religious backgrounds but parallels are able to be drawn. Utilizing Greek drama, contemporary of some of the first historically prominent doctors, we can examine our own perceptions through this medium. In exploring this topic, social perceptions of disease will be examined using certain Greek dramas as well as other historical documents in order to trace similar ideas present in today's society. I hypothesize that there will be very different perceptions of physical ailments but that stigmas about mental health have remained relatively constant. Regarding specific primary sources that will be utilized, the Greek dramas will be Sophocles' Philoctetes and Euripides' Medea while the historical document that will be focused upon is Thucydides' Histories.
Shiller, Max, "Greek Drama and Disease: Ancient Parallels to Modern Perspectives" (2018). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 718.