A few remarks on the new hypotheses about the health of Gaius Julius Caesar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/1644-857X.20.01.02Keywords:
Caesar, stroke, brain tumor, Hartnup disease, epilepsy, tuberculous meningitis, Meniere’s disease, Taenia solium, coeliac diseaseAbstract
Countless works have been devoted to Gaius Julius Caesar. All the aspects of the leader’s life have captured the interest of researchers. Information on the health condition of the famous politician was provided, among others, by Suetonius, Pliny the Elder, Appian of Alexandria, Plutarch of Cheronea and Cassius Dio. The preserved messages are highly fragmented, and their authors were not medics, which significantly affects the quality of the information. Nevertheless, the symptoms described by the ancients clearly indicate the health problems that Caesar had to deal with. The fragmentary nature of the descriptions and the lack of bone material make it impossible to clearly define which disease he suffered from. For this reason, a number of hypotheses have arisen regarding the causes described in the sources of attacks. The most popular were epilepsy, Meniere’s disease, brain tumour, neurosyphilis, parasite infection and Hartnup disease. In recent years, celiac disease has also been mentioned. Due to the inability to test the “patient”, all of them remain within the sphere of hypotheses, but today, taking into account the symptoms observed in Caesar, the most likely disease seems to be a brain tumour or a series of micro-haemorrhages. Hartnup disease seems to be an extremely interesting and probable option, but due to its hereditary nature, the problem should be investigated and discussed more broadly, taking into account the entire Julius family.
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