The fatal disease of Galerius Maximian

I re-posted this in a separate thread because I felt it was drifting too far off-topic in the Severus (II) thread.

RIC VI, LONDINIUM, No. 42 - Galerius Maximian as Augustus:


IMP C MAXIMIANVS P F AVG ......................... GENIO POPV -- LI ROMANI

9.7 gm.
Identical obverse inscription (2C) to the primary one of Maximian Herculius.


The fatal disease of Galerius Maximian:

Several Ancient historians chronicled it in such great detail that it has become a subject of much discussion among modern medical researchers some of whom have rendered speculative diagnoses of reproductive tract (testicular?) cancer -- maybe the first such recording in History.

Edit: I removed the Link to a page that described the terminal illness of Galerius Maximian in detail because some members found it to gruesome. If you think you may find this subject too difficult to research further, I advise you not to pursue it via an online search engine.

 

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That article is written in a way that almost seems satirical. If true, however, he sure endured a horrible end. I would have ordered one of the doctors to just kill me off instead of suffering that much.

 

Difficult to read without crossing your legs. And I'm a girl.

 

Tough article. I read it from your original post in your other thread. Good-Gawd, OUCH! No matter what the affliction was, what a horrible way to go.


RI Galerius 293-308 AE30mm Folles Ticinum mint Moneta 12g

 

It's really hard to "like" the post that started this thread considering what is described - It's just awful.

 

Gruesome!


Galerius. A.D. 305-311
Roman AE follis, 26.0 mm, 7.73 g, 12 h
Heraclea mint, AD 310-311
Obv: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate head right
Rev: GENIO IMPERATORIS, Genius standing left, holding patera and cornucopia; */HTE
Refs: RIC 48a; RCV 14514; Cohen 48.

 

Sorry for the tough read. Galerius was often described as a very strong and tough man. I think this is exemplified in my post. The significance of all this is that it is the only instance I know of in Imperial Roman history that the death of an Emperor was described in such detail -- and significant enough to become the subject of modern medical examination

Edit: I removed the Link to a page that described the terminal illness of Galerius Maximian in detail because some members found it too gruesome. If you think you may find this subject too difficult to research further, I advise you not to pursue it via an online search engine.

 

The whole article makes it out so painful, I think I shall go lay down for a bit. Horrible way to go no matter who you are.

 

It is indeed a horrible way to die, but why remove the link to the article just because someone found it difficult? It seems to me that post-modern society frequently suffers from its own horrible malady: the inability to accept and deal with difficult truths.

 

Agreed. While it is a horrible way to die, it is also reality. Personally I would have preferred the uncensored version.

 

Well I do agree with you John (and Orfew). I guess I am becoming an old softie. I didn't want to offend the sensitivities of some of our members. Let me amend my post edit: if you are curious about this subject and would like to know more, then just enter "the fatal disease of Galerius" (or something similar) in your favorite search engine.

 

Well, I am making a real botch of this thread. But I relent. Here is the link to what I think is the best reference:

http://www.journalacs.org/article/S1072-7515(12)00498-X/fulltext

.... but if you are in anyway queasy about graphic medical descriptions I advise you to not go there.

 

With a warning like that, I have no choice but to check it out.

 

I'm not seeing that at all. It's a great thread and we're all learning a lot from it.

 

I'll say one thing for reading that link, it certainly makes me appreciate the science of modern medicine. Both my wife and I, and one of our sons, suffered from various illnesses that would have killed us even a hundred years ago - illnesses which today are easily treated. The next time I complain about the state of health care and insurance in the US, I'm going to remind myself of poor old Galerius.

 

https://www.healio.com/endocrinolog...ntal-discovery-changed-the-course-of-medicine

Apparently when he discovered penicillin Fleming said: “One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on Sept. 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did.”

I cannot agree with this idea more. I always tell my students that just because your research did not result in finding what you were looking for, this does not mean that you did not find anything. To go even further, I would submit that the purpose of research is not to find answers, it is to find better questions.

 

Excellent @Orfew!

 

Don't miss the part that what we know of the matter came from two Christian writers more than happy to point out that rulers that persecuted Christians with the fervor of Galerius might expect God to bring a similar malady upon them. It is sad, IMO, that Galerius ruled after the time that coins commonly used reverses that were linked to current events. Had this happened in an earlier century we could have had some really pertinent Salus or Asclepius types.

 

He may have been a tough man, but I think my Galerius is looking a little green at the prospect of his fate...

 

Thanks for posting this thread @jamesicus - fascinating to read the post-mortem diagnosis, as gruesome as it is. I agree with @John Anthony that we are indeed blessed to be living at a time when antibiotics are widely available and can prevent these kinds of hideous diseases. I certainly don't envy poor Maximianus Galerius in his bout of ill health at the end of his life.