Tuesday, December 7, 2010

12-7-10 Epilepsy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18171635

Revered in some cultures but persecuted by most others, epilepsy patients have, throughout history, been linked with the divine, demonic, and supernatural.

Reading this article and a few others gives me the impression that this is the biggest misconception. Revered by some and persecuted by others. Demonic, divine and supernatural. I remember reading the odyssey and learning that one of the daughters of the king of troy was epileptic. They thought she could tell the future.

Then again there is the demonic part of epilepsy. Could a character from Othello suffer from epilepsy and be viewed differently? Who knows.

On Cyprus:
Interesting how history can be alluded to in a play. The attacks in Othello mention the ottomans and turks too.

On Venice:
I remember learning somewhere that Vienna was a place of the arts and music during some time period... hmm.

On Moors:
Wow. Moor isn't a name that those groups gave themselves. It was given to them. More of a literal description.

On Turks:
I was learning about this in World History. Interesting to have more details and know this is relevant to what we are reading in class right now.

1 comment:

  1. Yea I wonder how the person in Othello that has epilepsy will be treated. Also really good connection to the Odyssey.

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