The Persistence in Late Antiquity of Medico-Philosophical Psychic Therapy

Drawing on recent scholarship on mental health in the ancient world, it is argued that the previously puzzling final treatise that John Chrysostom sent to his supporters from exile is a therapeutic medico-philosophical treatise for the sick soul that draws on a well-established tradition within Hellenistic and imperial medicine and philosophy. Viewed in this light, it is a natural accompaniment to two other works written by him at this time, the treatise Quod nemo laeditur, and the final letter to Olympias. It is argued that all three works emerge from a holistic approach to the health of the human soul that is in continuity with Galen and his predecessors, an approach embraced by John early in his ministry.