The epilepsy of Emperor Michael IV, paphlagon (1034-1041 AD): Accounts of Byzantine historians and physicians

Lascaratos, J; Zis, PV

dc.contributor.author	Lascaratos, J	en
dc.contributor.author	Zis, PV	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T01:50:30Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T01:50:30Z
dc.date.issued	2000	en
dc.identifier.issn	0013-9580	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/26038
dc.subject	byzantine medicine	en
dc.subject	epilepsy	en
dc.subject	history of medicine	en
dc.subject	medieval literature	en
dc.subject	Michael IV, Paphlagon	en
dc.subject.classification	Clinical Neurology	en
dc.subject.other	CULTURES	en
dc.title	The epilepsy of Emperor Michael IV, paphlagon (1034-1041 AD): Accounts of Byzantine historians and physicians	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.language	English	en
heal.publicationDate	2000	en
heal.abstract	Purpose: Presentation of epilepsy suffered by Byzantine Emperor Michael IV, Paphlagon (who reigned from 1034 to 1041 A.D.) and the attitude of his contemporary society to his disorder. Methods: Research into the accounts of Byzantine historians and chroniclers referring to the case of the emperor and Byzantine medical texts revealing the opinion of official medicine about the disorder. Results: Byzantine historians and chroniclers provide de tailed clinical descriptions of the seizures of Emperor Michael IV. Nearly all, expressing popular opinion, considered his disease to be demonic possession that constituted a form of divine punishment for the emperor's adultery and act of murder; his royal entourage continually attempted euphemistically to pre-sent this condition as a psychic disease. On the contrary, research into Byzantine medical texts reveals that the physicians, already from the 4th century, following Hippocratic tradition, believed that epilepsy was primarily a brain-related disorder and based their treatment on this etiological principle. Conclusions: From the study of the Byzantine histories and chronicles, it can be deduced that Emperor Michael IV, Paphlagon, suffered from generalized tonic-clonic epileptic seizures. Despite the concept then held by well-educated Byzantine doctors, who considered epilepsy a brain disorder, information indicates the deep prejudices of his social environment.	en
heal.publisher	LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS	en
heal.journalName	EPILEPSIA	en
dc.identifier.isi	ISI:000087947400022	en
dc.identifier.volume	41	en
dc.identifier.issue	7	en
dc.identifier.spage	913	en
dc.identifier.epage	917	en