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Headaches in antiquity and during the early scientific era

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Abstract

This paper presents the evolution of ideas on headache symptoms from antiquity through the 19th century. A thorough study of texts, medical books and reports along with a review of the available literature in PubMed was undertaken: observations on headaches date back nearly 4,000 years to the ritual texts of Mesopotamia. Nicolaes Tulp, Thomas Willis and Gerhard van Swieten also made important contributions on various forms of headaches in the 17th and 18th centuries. Edward Liveing and William Gowers made the major contributions to the field in the late 19th century. Overall, observations on headaches span a timeline of nearly 9,000 years. The work of the physicians during the 18th and 19th century, however, set the basis for scientific research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Athens University, Athens, Greece

    Emmanouil Magiorkinis, Aristidis Diamantis & George Androutsos

  2. Neurology Department, Athens Naval Hospital, Athens, Greece

    Dimos-Dimitrios Mitsikostas

  3. L. Aianteiou 3, PB 1541, 18900, Salamina, Greece

    Emmanouil Magiorkinis

Authors
  1. Emmanouil Magiorkinis
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  2. Aristidis Diamantis
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  3. Dimos-Dimitrios Mitsikostas
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  4. George Androutsos
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Correspondence to Emmanouil Magiorkinis.

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Emmanouil Magiorkinis and Aristidis Diamantis contributed equally to the study.

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Magiorkinis, E., Diamantis, A., Mitsikostas, DD. et al. Headaches in antiquity and during the early scientific era. J Neurol 256, 1215–1220 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5085-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5085-7

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