The Sacred Disease

Known to history since for over 4000 years, and it's only recently that we've begun to understand it. In the meantime, people had to endure some "cures" that may have been worse than the disorder - especially since most of them did very little help in the first place. Join Jess and Philippa as they look into the confusion surrounding epileptic seizures, and how it was dealt with in the ancient world and medieval period.
Sources:
Sugg, R. (2011) Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires: The History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians. London and New York: Routledge.
Temkin, O. (1945) The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press.

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