Descriptions of eating disorders can sometimes be found in texts written thousands of years ago. Xenophonte, in his Anabasis, graphically describes episodes of bulimia in Greek mercenary hoplites.
Emperors Claudius and Vitellius (first century AD), and with them the majority of the Roman elite, regularly resorted to vomiting so that they could indulge in 24-hour gluttony, contrary to classical antique views of moderation.
Since the advent of Gnostic teaching, as well as Christianity, carnal well-being quite quickly begins to be seen as an obstacle to spiritual growth, which has consistently contributed to a positive image of anorexia. The work of J. Bemporad (1996) describes the illustrative case of the death from the exhaustion of a Roman girl, a follower of the famous ascetic, one of the fathers of the Christian Church, Jerome the Blessed[1].
In the Middle Ages, there were many examples of “religious” anorexia in the Christian world, often leading to the death of the ascetic. A prime example is the life of St. Catherine of Siena, who died of exhaustion at the age of 33. According to the descriptions of biographers, she could share a meal with her companion so as not to offend his feelings, but she was sure to vomit afterwards[2].
Such conditions are described in the socalled “holy anorexia” (anorexia mirabilis), which became a kind of epidemic among women in the Middle Ages. Both doctors and clergymen were quite often aware of the painful nature of the changes taking place in a woman. But due to the beliefs of that time, the progressive exhaustion was explained either by a special “holiness” or by “demonic possession”[3].
Throughout the Renaissance, there was a progressively increasing tendency to seek a scientific explanation for the persistent pursuit of weight loss. In 1694, English physician Richard Morton, in his monograph, “Phthisiologia or a Treatise of Consumptions”, described a case of complete loss of appetite and extreme exhaustion in an 18-year-old girl associated with “many worries and passions”. In his work, he uses the term “nervous consumption”[4].