The epilepsy of the Emperor Theodore II Lascaris (1254-1258)

The study of contemporary historic sources affords us a clinical picture of the epilepsy of the Byzantine Emperor, Theodore II Lascaris (1254-1258). I t appears that he suffered from an epileptic disorder of rather generalized tonic-clonic type (grand mal), which started to afflict him in all probabi lity before the age of 30 years. Numerous incidents described by many histo rians of his entourage reveal that he also had serious behavior disorders t hat the famous Byzantine historian, George Pachymeres, directly attributed to his disease.