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History of Psychiatry
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Horse madness (hippomania) and hippophobia

Yiannis G. Papakostas

Athens University Medical School, Eginition Hospital, 72–74 Vas. Sophias Avenue, 11528, Athens, Greece. yiargeke{at}hol.gr

Michael D. Daras

Columbia University

Ioannis A. Liappas

Manolis Markianos

Athens University Medical School

Anthropophagic horses have been described in classical mythology. From a current perspective, two such instances are worth mentioning and describing: Glaucus of Potniae, King of Efyra, and Diomedes, King of Thrace, who were both devoured by their horses. In both cases, the horses’ extreme aggression and their subsequent anthropophagic behaviour were attributed to their madness (hippomania) induced by the custom of feeding them with flesh. The current problem of ‘mad cow’ disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is apparently related to a similar feeding pattern. Aggressive behaviour in horses can be triggered by both biological and psychological factors. In the cases cited here, it is rather unlikely that the former were the cause. On the other hand, the multiple abuses imposed on the horses, coupled with peoples’ fantasies and largely unconscious fears (hippophobia), may possibly explain these mythological descriptions of the ‘horse-monsters’.

Key Words: cow-madness • hippomania • hippophobia • horse-madness

History of Psychiatry, Vol. 16, No. 4, 467-471 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0957154X05051459
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