Madness into Memory: Mania and Mnēmē in Greek Culture
Scripta Classica Israelica April 18, 2020 Yulia Ustinova 22 citations
Memory is often considered a purely rational faculty, but in ancient Greece it was intertwined with mania (divine madness). In poetry, the poet's memory operates under divine inspiration, not his own rational control. Mystery initiations aimed to create an eternal memory of an ecstatic experience, enhanced by mania. In Plato's philosophy, the philosopher's recollection of the soul's true knowledge is described as a seizure of mania. These phenomena show that magical memory and inspired knowledge were linked, reflecting the Indo-European root men-, meaning 'active mental force,' which persisted in Greek thought.