Tarantism*: Mass Hysterical Reaction to Spider Bite in the Middle Ages

Although disease and music seem to have little in common, a brief survey of history shows that they have always been intimately related. One of the most fascinating ties exists in the history of a strange disease, tarantism or tarantulism, for which the only cure supposedly was music. Because of the psychodynamic implications of this disease (which have'not been discussed in the literature) and because “the significance of the spider in folk psychology has not been sufficiently considered from the psychoanalytical point of view 1)”, the present study was undertaken.

In Italy, particularly in a very hot region in the heel of the Italian boot, there existed a spider scare that reached its height in the seventeenth century. This malady occurred in Apulia and, although individual cases of the disease were observed in other sections of Italy and Europe, it appears to have been localized in this area for about four centuries. Many hearsay reports were frequently mentioned in medical literature but for accurate descriptions one must turn to the works of three physicians: Epiphanius Ferdinandus, 11) who practiced medicine in Apulia for over twenty years