‘Insanity in Classical Antiquity’, by JL Heiberg (1913)

Abstract

Heiberg’s 1913 text on psychopathological concepts and terms in classical times remains important because of its freshness and historiographical value. A philologist and classical scholar, he seemed puzzled by the assumption of nosological continuity between classical categories of madness and current ones that prevailed at the time among historians of medicine and psychiatry. Heiberg’s text acts as a bridge or transition between the nosological antiquarianism of the 19th century and histories of psychiatry that later warned of the dangers of an anachronistic reading of earlier medical texts. It also shows how important has been the contribution of classical philologists to the study of the history of madness. To our knowledge, this is the first rendition into English of the complete Danish work.