I read with great interest the recent publication written by Galassi et al. [
[1]
] concerning the possible cause of Alaric I's sudden death. Using a dual philological–medical
approach, the authors hypothesized that malaria seems to be the most probable cause
of the king's death. Using an analogous approach but with primary historical sources
over a more extended period, I would like to propose other arguments largely in favor
of the proposed hypothesis regarding the cause of Alaric's death.Keywords
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References
- The sudden death of Alaric I (c. 370-410 AD), the vanquisher of Rome: a tale of malaria and lacking immunity.Eur J Intern Med. 2016; 31: 84-87https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2016.02.020
- Malaria and Rome: a history of malaria in ancient Italy.Oxford University Press, Oxford2002https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248506.001.0001
- L'émergence du Paludisme en Gaule.Caesarodunum. 2014; 44–45: 55-69
- Analysis of the causes of spawning of large-scale, severe malarial epidemics and their rapid total extinction in western Provence, historically a highly endemic region of France (1745–1850).Malar J. 2014; 3: 72https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-13-72
- De Origine actibusque Getarum.in: Mierow C.C. The gothic history of Jordanes. Princeton University Press, Princeton1915 ([English Translation])
- The infections of Saint-Louis: possible involvement of malaria.Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2016; 12: 121https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-015-9732-2
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 27, 2016
Accepted:
June 16,
2016
Received in revised form:
June 14,
2016
Received:
June 13,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
