Hereditary acromegalic gigantism in the family of Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax

Emanuele Armocida; Raffaella Bianucci; Elena Varotto; W.W. de Herder; Francesco M Galassi

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109525

Hereditary acromegalic gigantism in the family of Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax

Emanuele Armocida, Raffaella Bianucci, Elena Varotto, W.W. de Herder, Francesco M Galassi

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To the Editor,
In AD 235 Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus (ca. AD 173-238), known as Maximinus Thrax, became the first Roman Emperor of barbarian origin. Because of his military service, he never actually lived in Rome and was assassinated by his own troops during the siege of Aquileia in May 238. Allegedly one of the tallest individuals in recorded history, scholars maintain that he was affected by acromegalic gigantism (acro-gigantism), an endocrine disorder caused by a tumour in the anterior pituitary gland secreting an excess of growth hormone (GH) causing elevated insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels before puberty (prepubertal gigantism)...

Original language	English
Article number	109525
Number of pages	2
Journal	Medical Hypotheses
Volume	136
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109525
Publication status	Published - Mar 2020

Keywords

Gigantism
Acromegaly
Pituitary
Endocrinology
History of medicine
Palaeopathology
Bioarchaeology
Physical Anthropology
Paleopathology

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title = "Hereditary acromegalic gigantism in the family of Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax",

abstract = "To the Editor,In AD 235 Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus (ca. AD 173-238), known as Maximinus Thrax, became the first Roman Emperor of barbarian origin. Because of his military service, he never actually lived in Rome and was assassinated by his own troops during the siege of Aquileia in May 238. Allegedly one of the tallest individuals in recorded history, scholars maintain that he was affected by acromegalic gigantism (acro-gigantism), an endocrine disorder caused by a tumour in the anterior pituitary gland secreting an excess of growth hormone (GH) causing elevated insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels before puberty (prepubertal gigantism)...",

keywords = "Gigantism, Acromegaly, Pituitary, Endocrinology, History of medicine, Palaeopathology, Bioarchaeology, Physical Anthropology, Paleopathology",

author = "Emanuele Armocida and Raffaella Bianucci and Elena Varotto and {de Herder}, W.W. and Galassi, {Francesco M}",

year = "2020",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109525",

language = "English",

volume = "136",

journal = "Medical Hypotheses",

issn = "0306-9877",

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T1 - Hereditary acromegalic gigantism in the family of Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax

AU - Armocida, Emanuele

AU - Bianucci, Raffaella

AU - Varotto, Elena

AU - de Herder, W.W.

AU - Galassi, Francesco M

PY - 2020/3

Y1 - 2020/3

N2 - To the Editor,In AD 235 Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus (ca. AD 173-238), known as Maximinus Thrax, became the first Roman Emperor of barbarian origin. Because of his military service, he never actually lived in Rome and was assassinated by his own troops during the siege of Aquileia in May 238. Allegedly one of the tallest individuals in recorded history, scholars maintain that he was affected by acromegalic gigantism (acro-gigantism), an endocrine disorder caused by a tumour in the anterior pituitary gland secreting an excess of growth hormone (GH) causing elevated insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels before puberty (prepubertal gigantism)...

AB - To the Editor,In AD 235 Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus (ca. AD 173-238), known as Maximinus Thrax, became the first Roman Emperor of barbarian origin. Because of his military service, he never actually lived in Rome and was assassinated by his own troops during the siege of Aquileia in May 238. Allegedly one of the tallest individuals in recorded history, scholars maintain that he was affected by acromegalic gigantism (acro-gigantism), an endocrine disorder caused by a tumour in the anterior pituitary gland secreting an excess of growth hormone (GH) causing elevated insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels before puberty (prepubertal gigantism)...

KW - Gigantism

KW - Acromegaly

KW - Pituitary

KW - Endocrinology

KW - History of medicine

KW - Palaeopathology

KW - Bioarchaeology

KW - Physical Anthropology

KW - Paleopathology

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U2 - 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109525

DO - 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109525

M3 - Letter

SN - 0306-9877

VL - 136

JO - Medical Hypotheses

JF - Medical Hypotheses

M1 - 109525

ER -

Hereditary acromegalic gigantism in the family of Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax

Abstract

Keywords

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