{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:43:37Z","timestamp":1777855417005,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,7,4]],"date-time":"2013-07-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1372896000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Biogr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>It has been suggested that undiagnosed epilepsy profoundly influenced the lives of several key figures in history. Historical sources recounting strange voices and visions may in fact have been describing manifestations of epileptic seizures rather than more supernatural phenomena. Well-documented accounts of such experiences exist for three individuals in particular: Socrates, St Paul and Joan of Arc. The great philosopher Socrates described a \u2018daimonion\u2019 that would visit him throughout his life. This daimonion may have represented recurrent simple partial seizures, while the peculiar periods of motionlessness for which Socrates was well known may have been the result of co-existing complex partial seizures. St Paul\u2019s religious conversion on the Road to Damascus may have followed a temporal lobe seizure which would account for the lights, voices, blindness and even the religious ecstasy he described. Finally, Joan of Arc gave a detailed narrative on the voices she heard from childhood during her Trial of Condemnation. Her auditory hallucinations appear to follow sudden acoustic stimuli in a way reminiscent of idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features. By analysing passages from historical texts, it is possible to argue that Socrates, St Paul and Joan of Arc each had epilepsy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0967772013479757","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,7,4]],"date-time":"2013-07-04T22:05:07Z","timestamp":1372975507000},"page":"208-211","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["A retrospective diagnosis of epilepsy in three historical figures: St Paul, Joan of Arc and Socrates"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Louwai","family":"Muhammed","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Green Templeton College, Oxford, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,7,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Cooper J (ed.).\n                      Plato: complete works\n                      . Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1997."},{"key":"bibr2-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Cooper J (ed.). (Apologia 31d)\n                      Plato: complete works\n                      . Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1997."},{"key":"bibr3-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Cooper J (ed.). (Phaedrus 263d)\n                      Plato: complete works\n                      . Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1997."},{"key":"bibr4-0967772013479757","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1528-1167.2006.00481.x"},{"key":"bibr5-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Cooper J (ed.) (Symposium 175a-b)\n                      Plato: complete works\n                      . Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1997."},{"key":"bibr6-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Ko D and Sahai-Srivastava S.\n                      Temporal lobe epilepsy clinical presentation,\n                      http:\/\/emedicine.medscape.com\/article\/1184509-clinical (2012, updated 12 March 2012; accessed 18 June 2012)."},{"key":"bibr7-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Moffatt J. (Galatians 1:13\u201314)\n                      The Moffatt translation of the Bible\n                      . London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935."},{"key":"bibr8-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Moffatt J. (Acts 9:3\u20136,8,9)\n                      The Moffatt translation of the Bible\n                      . London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935."},{"key":"bibr9-0967772013479757","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jnnp.50.6.659"},{"key":"bibr10-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Moffatt J. (Acts 9:1\u201319, 22:6\u201313, 26:9\u201316)\n                      The Moffatt translation of the Bible\n                      . London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935."},{"key":"bibr11-0967772013479757","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(01)73154-6"},{"key":"bibr12-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Moffatt J. (Acts 9:18)\n                      The Moffatt translation of the Bible\n                      . London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935."},{"key":"bibr13-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Moffatt J. (2 Corinthians 12:6\u20139)\n                      The Moffatt translation of the Bible\n                      . London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935."},{"key":"bibr14-0967772013479757","unstructured":"Moffatt J. (Galatians 4:13\u201314)\n                      The Moffatt translation of the Bible\n                      . 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