(Marble bust of Julius Caesar, c. 1st quarter of 1st century CE,
photographed by Carole Raddato, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons (CC 2.0))
The life of Julius Caesar was
recorded in great and lengthy detail. Caesar wrote an autobiography, describing
his military journey through his war in Gaul, as well as the Civil War against Pompey,
spanning across the Mediterranean Sea from Spain to Egypt. Despite his fairly
accurate (but definitely propagandized) portrayal of himself in his
autobiography, Caesar rarely mentioned his health.
Though Caesar was reluctant
to write about the state of his health, many of the numerous people who
witnessed the dictator took time to write down the odd symptoms of ill health that
Julius Caesar would sometimes let slip. Men such as Plutarch, Suetonius, Appian and
Cicero witnessed and recorded Caesar facing sufferings such as convulsions,
headaches or migraines, feinting spells and minor seizures. Plutarch openly
diagnosed Caesar with epilepsy in his writings.
Now, new theories are being
formed and tested. Doctors Francesco Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian have
hypothesized that Caesar’s small seizures, convulsions and head pains were not
symptoms of epilepsy, but of mini strokes. Nevertheless, as with many other
obscure pieces of history over 2,000 years old, we can only continue to assume
and theorize about the truth.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
thehistorianshut.com
Source:
- Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2008.
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