Seizures

[coronzon]

I wanted to know if Alexander had seizures. I've read many texts and none of these suggested this was the case. A friend of mine told me of this so I searched the net and I found a few sites that listed him as a sufferer. None of these sites give much detail. Any information would be appreciated.Brandon

[marcus]

Hi Brandon,There does appear to be a story that Alexander suffered from epilepsy, although no-one knows quite where it started.There is no evidence that he suffered from epilepsy, or any other illness that induces seizures. Have a look at the 'myths' section of this website for some more of the weird stories that circulate.All the bestMarcus

[ruthaki]

The story may have sprung from something about Arridaios. It was more than likely he may have suffered from seizures due to his brain damage. I wonder if Alexander was bi-polar though????

[marcus]

Hi Ruth,If Arrhidaios did indeed suffer from brain damage, of course. :-)I really must look into the Arrhidaios question in more detail at some point - there's an excellent article in AHB by Liz Carney. I don't think there's anything in the sources that in any way describes symptoms of his 'problems' (whatever they were) - which means that any 'seizures' mentioned must be extremely late sources ... or just figments of modern writers' imaginations.Having said that, you might well be right that any mention of Alexander having seizures could have come from stories that have grown up about Arrhidaios.All the bestMarcus