The epileptic seizure and the myth of Hyakinthos

Epilepsy is, apart from sleep, the essential human experience of what looks like a violent, dramatic but transient form of death, a death a person can recover from. This makes epilepsy interesting in Indo-European tradition where rebirth in its various forms is an established concept. This paper interprets an illumination of the Middle Ages and comments on the promise made to a fallen person with epilepsy through the myth of Hyakinthos. Hyakinthos, Apollo's friend, died in a friendly competition and was reborn from his own blood in the form of a flower that bears his name. (c) 2012 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.