An Epileptic Aristides? a Neglected Aspect of Aristides’ Reception

AN EPILEPTIC ARISTIDES? A NEGLECTED ASPECT OF ARISTIDES’ RECEPTION Abstract: Sopater, the fourth-century Greek rhetor and author of the Aristides Prolegomena, described Aelius Aristides as an epileptic. This diagnosis is particularly interesting because Sopater was intimately acquainted with Aristides’ own autobiographical work — the Sacred Tales — which revolved around its author’s maladies, the treatments he underwent, and his consultations with physicians, priests, and gods. Aristides himself never used the term ‘epileptic’ or any of its cog- nates. What, then, led Sopater to reach such a conclusion and how does it reflect on the reception of Aristides in late antique Athens? This paper will seek to address these questions by considering two aspects of Sopater’s diagnosis. The first concerns Sopater’s own understanding of the nature of epilepsy. Nearly a millennium after the Hippocratic trea- tise On the Sacred Disease aimed to rebuke the commonly held view that epilepsy was god-sent instead arguing that it had a nature and a cause like all other ailments, it appears that this belief was still stead- fast in Sopater’s day and age. The second aspect of Sopater’s diagnosis to be examined concerns the implications of this understanding of Aris- tides as an epileptic and its relevance to the Prolegomena Sopater offered and to Aristides’ reception. INTRODUCTiON Late antique Prolegomena to the works of Aelius Aristides refer to the famous second-century orator as an epileptic.1 In fact, it ascribed this diagnosis, which might have predated Sopater himself, to common knowledge: ἐπιληπτικὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν λέγουσι γεγονέναι.2 It is the first known such diagnosis of Aristides. Whilst the Prolegomena discussed predominantly Aristides’ style and technique, they also included a biographical section. It is within this history of Aristides’ life, that the diagnosis of epilepsy was made. The author of the Prolegomena, most likely the Athenian rhetor Sopater,3 states that this medical diagnosis was common knowledge: 1 I use the text provided by Lenz (1959). References to the Aristides’ Prolegomena follow, as in Lenz’s edition, the page numbers of Dindorf’s edition of Aristides’ work. Dindorf presents in his edition of Aelius Aristides a text of the Prolegomena in the third volume, and after the scholia on Aristides’ orations. 2 Sopater, Prolegomena 738D. 3 Little is known about Sopater’s life. Several works concerning rhetoric are ascribed to a Sopater, and are dated to the fourth and fifth centuries CE. There were at least two Ancient Society 47, 237-254. doi: 10.2143/AS.47.0.3242724 © 2017 by Ancient Society. All rights reserved. 238 i. Israelowich Οὗτος δὲ ὁ Ἀριστείδης νέος ὢν πικροτάτην λέγεται νενοσηκέναι νόσον· ἐπιληπτικὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν λέγουσι γεγονέναι, καὶ τὸ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ διὰ τοῦτο ἠργηκέναι ἐπί τινα χρόνον. εἶτα ἀπελθὼν ἐν Περ- γάνωι, ὡς δὴ τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ πολὺ ἐκεῖσε φοιτῶντος, καὶ παραμεί- νας χρόνον ἔτυχεν ἰάσεως. καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτου ἀμείψασθαι τὴν εὐερ- γεσίαν βουλόμενος ἔγραψεν ἓξ λόγους τοὺς Ἱεροὺς λεγομένους, ἐν οἷς μόνους τοὺς ὀνείρους ἐξηγεῖται, οὓς ἰδὼν ἰάθη.4 This Aristides, it is said, became severely ill while still young. They say he became epileptic and, due to that, he stopped working on his speeches for some time. Later he came to Pergamum, on the grounds that Ascle- pius visited there regularly, and remaining there for a period, he attained cure. In regards to this, wishing to repay the beneficence of the god he composed the six books called ‘sacred’, in which he expounded only the dreams, the seeing of which cured him. The Prolegomena were composed for the purpose of training students of rhetoric and they therefore served as a kind of textbook.5 In consequence, it can be assumed that all the biographical information that was included in the Prolegomena about Aristides was intended to illuminate upon var- ious aspects of his work. In other words, the biographical details offered a means of contextualizing Aristides’ work. Therefore, it must have been believed that his status as an epileptic would have had a bearing upon his rhetorical output. The purpose of this article is to investigate why such a diagnosis of Aristides as an epileptic appeared two centuries after he died. I will explore what it says about the reception of Aristides in late antiq- uity, and what it says about the current thinking surrounding the condition of epilepsy. In the first part of this article I will therefore examine Aris- tides’ medical history and how Sopater’s diagnosis can be seen in relation to other interpretations of Aristides’ ill health. Next, I will move on to consider understandings of epilepsy within the ancient world. By doing so I will then finally be able to address the central theme of the article, namely the question of why a new diagnosis of Aristides as an epileptic emerged at this time. authors under this name who composted commentaries and prolegomena to earlier works (Prosopography of Greek Rhetors and Sophists of the Roman Empire (Oxford 2015) s.v. 967). The task of attributing each author with each work is notoriously baffling. Rus- sell (1996) argued for the possibility that the author of the Prolegomena was a student of Himerius. Glöckner (1927), in his entry in RE, had stated this, and based his claim on an unpublished work of Bruno Keil, but provided no further biographical information. 4 Sopater, Prolegomena 738D. 5 Lenz (1959) ix. AN EPILEPTIC ARISTIDES? 239 AELiUS ARiSTiDES Aelius Aristides was born in Mysia in Asia Minor, in the year Hadrian succeeded Trajan, into a family of wealth and local political power. Aris- tides gained the best possible education, excelled in his studies and aspired to the fame and glory a career as a rhetor could offer.6 Indeed, he initially appeared to have a promising career in this field, but it was tragi- cally brought to a halt due to severe illness when Aristides was only twenty- six years of age (Aristid. Or. 48.5, 60 K).7 Aristides was residing in Rome at the time his health failed and he turned to local physicians for help. However, these physicians offered no more than a short-term solution of purging Aristides’ body, using therapeutic measures which were both unpleasant and of little use.8 In consequence, Aristides decided to aban- don his hopes of a future in Rome and returned to Smyrna. During his return journey, and once in Smyrna itself, Aristides continued to consult with var- ious physicians. However, he was offered no cure, prognosis, or even diagnosis (Aristid. Or. 48.5-7 K). Aristides then took the only practical advice he was given during this period and travelled to the warm springs near the city of Pergamum for a period of convalescence (Aristid. Or. 48.8 K). It was whilst at Pergamum that Asclepius, the god of medicine, first revealed himself to Aristides and invited him to his nearby temple (Aris- tid. Or. 48.7 K).9 The period of Aristides’ stay in Pergamum coincided with a golden age for the Pergamene Asclepieion.10 Recently remodelled by Hadrian and enjoying the cultural renaissance of the Greek world in general, and of the city of Pergamum in particular,11 the temple was a magnet for people from throughout the Graeco-Roman world. Scholars like the philosopher Euarestus of Crete, whose acquaintance Aristides had already made while travelling in Egypt, arrived in the Pergamene Asclepieion not as patients, 6 For the biography of Aristides see Behr (1994) 1140–1223. For the composition of the Sacred Tales Behr (1968) is also paramount. Puech (2002) has collected all the epi- graphical evidence relevant to Aristides (138-145). For more general background concerning the role of the Greek sophists in the Roman Empire see Bowersock (1969), with Bowie (1982), and Brunt (1994). 7 On the date of the beginning of Aristides’ illness see Pernot (1997) 164. 8 Aristid. Or. 48.63 K. 9 For Aristides’ illnesses, attitude towards it, and treatment see Israelowich (2012). For his experiences in the Asclepieion see Downie (2013), and Petsalis-Diomidis (2010). 10 Habicht (1969) 6-8; Hoffmann (1998); Radt (1988). 11 Bowersock (1969) 60ff; Le Glay (1976). 240 i. Israelowich but in pursuit of knowledge of the god.12 It was not only scholars who visited the temple. In August 146 CE Aristides was fortunate enough to meet the governor Julianus and the civic magnate Rufinus, who were both visiting the Asclepieion while healthy and well, and they offered Aristides some practical help with pending legal issues that troubled him.13 Aris- tides also enjoyed the company of some distinguished scholars who were convalescing in the temple with him at this time. They provided Aristides with valuable support in his decision to follow Asclepius’ exhortation and resume the practice of oratory. Men like Salvius, of whom Aristides says that he is now a consul (Σαλβίου τοῦ νῦν ὑπάτου)14 and Sedatius “one of the Roman senators” (τινι τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ῥωμαίων βουλῆς),15 provided Aristides with both the moral encouragement and the intellectual stimu- lus he needed in order to resume declaiming. Whilst visiting the temple Ascelpius’ worshippers could spend a night of incubation in a purpose- built abaton, in expectance of a god-sent dream which included remedies for their ailments.16 In addition, the city of Pergamum was home to some of the most distinguished physicians of the Graeco-Roman world such as Satyrus and Galen.17 Indeed, the sick worshippers of Asclepius consulted with local physicians on a regular basis and all the evidence points to the existence of a fruitful synergy between these physicians and the practition- ers of temple medicine.18 Aristides himself believed he benefited immensely from his period in the temple.

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