A series of Egyptian kings died of epilepsy?

Since the discovery of the nearly intact tomb of King Tutankhamun (reigning in the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt) in 1922, the cause of the mysterious pharaoh's death at age 18 often became the subject. at the debates in the scientific world. With a lot of hypotheses given like being killed, leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, anemia or even a snake bite.

However, according to Hutan Ashrafian surgeon at the Royal College of London, these hypotheses have forgotten a very important sign: Tutankhamun has a small, feminine body, just like kings. before.

The paintings and sculptures show both Smenkhkare (a little-known pharaoh, probably uncle or brother of Tutankhamun) and Akhenaten (father of the young king) have the same body shape with the chest. unusually large and wide hips. Even 2 pharaohs who ruled before Akhenaten Amenhotep III and Tuthmosis IV did not escape the same situation.

In particular, all those kings died young and mysterious.'Experts only focus on individual individuals but forget about the similarities in the total,' Ashrafian said. In addition, he found that the rule was quite strange when the latter always died younger than the previous one, evidence of a genetic disorder.

The mummy is said to be King Tutankhamun in an excavated tomb in 1922.

Based on historical documents, Ashrafian said it was likely that the royal family had suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy that was passed on from generation to generation . Accordingly, patients will often experience hallucinations because of seizures that occur continuously in the temporal lobe in the brain, especially after exposure to sunlight.

The diagnosis is also quite reasonable explanation for their feminine shape. The temporal lobe connects to many parts of the brain involved in increasing hormone levels, and thus, epileptic seizures that alter hormone levels will affect sex development, contribute to the resolution. I like the reason why the pharaoh's breasts are bigger than usual.

"This hypothesis is very convincing ," said historian Howard Markel of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. However, it is still only a guess when genetic tests have not yet been conducted.

Reference: Newscientist