Connecting the Mind and Body in Ancient Greek Medicine

Author

Taylor Ferris, University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Classics

First Advisor

Aileen Ajootian

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

I investigated Greek medicine and healing shrines in antiquity and focused on the issue of the mind-body connection and how this phenomenon was understood in antiquity. I researched the Athenian plague of 430-425 B.C., sleep and dreams, particularly in the Rites of Incubation, and Hippocratic medicine as well as religious medicine in order to understand more deeply the origins of Greek medicine and how the healing phenomena were practiced and understood. I have come to a greater understanding of this connection between the mind and the body and have come to redefine the placebo effect and argue that the mind can persuade the body, which can greatly aid in the healing process of mental and physical ailments.

Recommended Citation

Ferris, Taylor, "Connecting the Mind and Body in Ancient Greek Medicine" (2018). Honors Theses. 898.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/898

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