Synesthesia in pre modern times?

[Arcadia Divine]

Is there ever a point in time where synesthesia was viewed as anything but an extraordinary gift? How was synesthesia viewed in ancient and medieval times? Is there any civilization out there that talks about anything remotely related to synesthesia? I'm having a hell of a time finding an answer.

Here's a link to get you started. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

[rachelmachelsmachel]

my bet would be a lot of eye rolling prior to 1950. If people only clued in to gravity a couple hundred years ago I doubt they'd be putting much thought into something that exists only in the minds of a very few.

[thothguard51]

I would say its never been viewed as a gift, and in ancient times it may have even been viewed as witchcraft, as most things not understood were.

The biggest issue I have is that even today, most readers would not know or understand what the hell this condition was. So if you plan on using it is a story, and using the various diagnosed varieties of this condition, in their proper terms, you might loose the reader unless you come up with a name the reader can live with...

Just a thought...

[Arcadia Divine]

Just letting everyone know that I found the answer. I asked the American Synesthesia Association and they answered my questions.

@Thoth and Rachel, In ancient times the greeks studied it and were fascinated with this phenomenon, which explains the Goddess Iris. The Romans picked up on it a little bit. In the medieval times it was twisted around and essentially Thoth would be right. Also, everyone has synesthesia it's just a matter of at what age you lost it, if at all. I found out that babies have it till 8 months old (give or take a couple months). Most lose it after that.

There are quite a few people that both reference and have synesthesia still but like I said, most lose it. Stevie Wonder has synesthesia.

I also learned that anyone can obtain certain forms of the 60 types documented.