A city in (un)health: learning through physical or Mental Suffering in Ancient Greek Tragedies

The spread of healing cults and practices of the 5th century. BC. inspired tragedians to search for new forms of depicting heroes suffering from physical or mental illnesses. The understanding of illness in tragedies contrasted with their rational understanding, affirmed the divine origin of painful suffering and the possibility of learning through them. In Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, heroes suffering from diseases are often in the role of students, and those around them are in the role of mentors, helping to cope with the disease or just observing its course. The article discusses different strategies for teaching heroes through mental or physical illness, presented in the tragedies "Orestes", "Ajax" and "Philoctetus". The pedagogical dimension of the formula "resentment - illness - death / threat of death" is considered as explaining the peculiarities of the dramatic representation of the city as a space of (un)health.