Melancholic Disease and Love Between Poetry and Medicine in the Late Antiquity: Aegritudo Perdiccae (Ae.P.)

Abstract

The article examines the topic of love and melancholic sickness in medicine and literature of Late Antiquity with special attention to the poem Aegritudo Perdiccae. in the Late Antiquity, medicine takes a new attitude to the disease of love, making it an indipendent disease, with specific physical and psychological symptoms. Many new features can be justified by the influence of Christian thought on medical theories.

Key words: Melancholy - Love sickness - Late Antiquity