The seizures of Peter Alexeevich = Peter the Great, Father of Modern Russia

This article deals with the seizures of Tsar Peter the Great, Father of Modern Russia. At the age of 10 in 1682, he witnessed the very brutal deaths of two men who were close to his family and the hacking of these men to pieces, directly in front of him. This savagery could have left scars, explaining possible psychogenic seizures. Also, such great quantities of alcohol were consistently consumed by this giant of a man at 6 ft 8 in. that alcohol withdrawal seizures would also seem possible. However, evidence of the latter two types of seizures is lacking. At the age of 21, he likely had severe encephalitis and, within that year, developed simple partial seizures with jerking movements of his left face that spread to his arm, and occasionally to his leg, finally evolving into a complex partial attack with loss of consciousness later. It is entirely possible that the seizures of Peter the Great are an example of a new entity called acute encephalitis with refractory,l repetitive partial seizures, associated at times with epilepsia partialis continua and periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.