Apoplexy is a historical term (apo, from or outside, and pléttô, to strike) that was defined as the abrupt, more or less complete suspension of brain activity [1]. In the epic poems of Homer that are the foundational works of ancient Greek literature, sudden death is a sign of divine wrath, by the arrows of Apollo for men, and those of Artemis for women. These arrows are often referred to as “soft,” rapid death, rather than long suffering. They are considered to be a favor of the gods [2]. During the seventh and eighth centuries BCE, observers recognized the existence of sudden ailments, often fatal, that developed in the absence of any apparent injury and occurred in healthy individuals. In the “Treatise on Diseases II and III,” Hippocrates used “apoplexy” as a clinical term that described instances in which the patient is “staggered,” with sudden headache and loss of vision, movement, and consciousness [3]. He attributed the condition to an excess of impurities in the brain, by an influx of phlegm or black bile in the blood. Erasistratus, one of the first physicians to conduct recorded dissections during the second century BCE, rejected this humoral theory; he attributed apoplexy to a sudden abundance of blood in the brain [4].