Disease has many stories, some told by individual sufferers, others by health care practitioners and researchers, and yet others by historians of medicine. This seminar examines disease stories found in ancient Greek literature and discusses how specific cultural expectations and attitudes influenced the ways these stories were told.


Jennifer Clarke Kosak received her Ph.D. in Classical Philology from the University of Michigan and her B.A. from Harvard-Radcliffe. She has research interests in the areas of ancient Greek medicine, ancient Greek theater, gender studies (particularly masculinity) and intellectual history. Her book, Heroic Measures: Hippocratic Medicine in the Making of Euripidean Tragedy (2004), argues that Greek tragedy and Greek medical writing draw upon a common stock of ideas to construct their views on human nature and the processes of disease and treatment. She has also written articles that demonstrate the importance of Greek medical thought for understanding other authors and areas of classical Greek culture. Currently, she is writing a book on masculinity and medicine in ancient Greece.