The vocabulary of madness from Homer to Hippocrates. Part 2: The verbal group of βακχεύω and the noun λύσσα

Abstract

In Part 2 of this two-part paper, I examine the evolution and the aspects of the concept of madness expressed by the various forms — verbal and nominal, simple and compound — of the verbal group of βακχεύω and the noun λύσσα, its nominal and derivatives, in the archaic and classical periods. I conclude that the verbal group of βακχεύω is apt to indicate bacchic frenzy that manifests either in the celebration of Bacchos’s mysteries or in the delirium instilled by Dionysos In addition, λύσσα, its nominal and verbal derivatives, refer to either a violent and wild state of soul resulting from divine intervention or pathological madness caused by a dog’s bite.