Description:
In seiner medizinischen Monographie Über die Melancholie verbindet Rufus von Ephesus (fl. 100 n. Chr.) medizinische und philosophische Aspekte: Schwarze Galle ist Ursache von Wahnsinn und Depression, aber auch Zeichen des geistigen Genies. Seine Vorstellung der Melancholie hat die folgenden Ärztegenerationen, insbesondere Galen, stark beeinflusst, und sowohl das Mittelalter wie auch die Renaissance dominiert.In dem vorliegenden Band werden die griechischen, lateinischen und arabischen Fragmente dieser im Original verlorenen Schrift zum ersten Mal gesammelt, ins Englische übersetzt und kommentiert. In interpretierenden Essays haben sich führende Wissenschaftler mit dem Fortleben dieser Schrift in Antike, Mittelalter, Renaissance und Früher Neuzeit aus historischer, philosophischer, literarisches, kunstgeschichtlicher und psychiatrischer Sicht beschäftigt.InhaltsübersichtSimon Swain: Social Stress and Political Pressure: Rufus' Melancholy Patients and Their Time – Vivian Nutton: The Medical World of Rufus of Ephesus – Philip van der Eijk: Rufus' On Melancholy and Its Philosophical Background – Peter E. Pormann: Melancholy in the Medieval World: the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Traditions – Peter-Klaus Schuster, Jörg Völlnagel: Dürer and Rufus: Melencolia I in the Medical Tradition – Peter Toohey: Rufus of Ephesus and the Tradition of the Melancholy Thinker – Thomas Rütten: Rufus' Legacy in the Psychopathological Literature of the (Early) Modern Period
Rufus of Ephesus' treatise On Melancholy represents perhaps the most influential medical monograph from the late first century AD, since his notion of melancholy links two diverse aspects: black bile as a cause for madness and depression and as a sign of intellectual genius. Rufus combines concepts of melancholy developed in the Aristotelian philosophy with concepts of famous physicians such as Hippocrates and Diocles. His ideas strongly influenced subsequent generations of physicians, and especially Galen, and dominated discourses on the topic during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Moreover, the reception of Rufus' concepts was not limited to the Western world; in medieval Muslim culture, in particular, his work enjoyed great fame and favor, and many intellectuals read it eagerly.In this volume, the Greek, Latin and Arabic fragments of this work, lost in the original, have been collected for the first time. Arabic sources in particular yield hitherto unknown fragments, thus allowing for new interpretations of this work. The English introduction, translation and commentary reconstruct the main arguments of this important treatise, enabling the interested scholar to obtain easy access to it. Leading scholars contributed interpretative essays which investigate Rufus and his ideas about melancholy in antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the early modern period from different vantage points, including history, philosophy, literature, art history and psychiatry.Survey of contentsSimon Swain: Social Stress and Political Pressure: Rufus' Melancholy Patients and Their Time – Vivian Nutton: The Medical World of Rufus of Ephesus – Philip van der Eijk: Rufus' On Melancholy and Its Philosophical Background – Peter E. Pormann: Melancholy in the Medieval World: the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Traditions – Peter-Klaus Schuster, Jörg Völlnagel: Dürer and Rufus: Melencolia I in the Medical Tradition – Peter Toohey: Rufus of Ephesus and the Tradition of the Melancholy Thinker – Thomas Rütten: Rufus' Legacy in the Psychopathological Literature of the (Early) Modern Period