ABSTRACT
The Classical era represents a period of history stretching roughly between the eighth century BC and the sixth century AD. The cultural and intellectual contributions of the era centered around the civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, sometimes referred to as the Greco-Roman world, which dominated life in the Mediterranean world at the time. Its influence was powerful throughout Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and the ripple effects of its influence continued to be felt long after its decline. As is well known, the rubble of the Greco-Roman world laid the foundation for what we now call the Western world and continues to have powerful impacts around the globe in nearly every society on Earth. How humans thought about themselves and their place in the natural world was fundamentally altered. Modern concepts related to our topic, including humanism, the medical model, and empiricism, all have their roots in this era. The gods themselves began to shift from being unquestioned ontological entities to being regarded as ideas or mental forms. Humanity became the measure of all things. Mental health and mental illness became human concerns rather than religious ones.
