Mad Rituals. Aretaeus of Cappadocia on ‘Divine’ Frenzy

Abstract

This article focuses on a paragraph from the work On the Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment of Acute and Chronic Diseases by the Imperial-era physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia (1st or 2nd c. AD). Found in the chapter On Mania, this passage describes a specific form of the condition, characterized by violent self-mutilation occurring in ritual contexts marked by aulós music, drunkenness, and collective exaltation. A close analysis of the text suggests that the physician is comprehensively alluding to the widespread cults of female deities such as Magna Mater, Cybele, Dea Syria and Rhea, as well as to their devotees, known in ancient sources as Galli. While Aretaeus refers to this type of madness as entheos (“divinely inspired”) and compares its phenomenology to that of initiatory rituals, this article argues that he employs such designations ironically. Rather than embracing a religious framework, he interprets this form of manía in entirely naturalistic and psychopathological terms – an approach with few parallels in ancient medical thought.