Evidence of the existence of giants in history

Giant skeletons china

Giants in history

Specialist in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology Universidad del Rosario, Chief of Endocrinology Service Hospital de San José and Associate Professor Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud.

William Rojas G.

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Acromegaly and pituitary gigantism are entities of very low prevalence but in spite of this, it is surprising that in the history of mankind there are descriptions of cases in all ages, especially of gigantism, which show us that it is an entity that has always accompanied us.

If we review from when documents or stories about the existence of giants exist, the surprise is that they are described from the stories of the Bible. According to the references that appear in the books of the Old Testament, in the Genesis (Genesis 6,1-2) and in the Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 13,11) reference is made to the existence of giants as a race of beings born of the union between beautiful women and angels of God and they are denominated nephilims. 

Apparently, part of the biblical justification for the universal flood was that God wanted to put an end to this race of giants because of their origins and behavior. Subsequently, another biblical description that refers to the giants is when the Israelites arrived in the land of Canaan and sent a group in advance to observe the type of settlers that were in these lands and when they returned these explorers reported the presence of giants that inhabited the lands of Canaan. In spite of their presence, the Israelites decide to invade these territories with the conviction that God is with them and will not allow anything to happen to his people.

The fight between David and Goliath.

Another reference to the presence of giants in the Bible is in the description of King Org, who apparently was a giant because his bed was 5 meters long by 2 meters wide. And closer to this is the description of the fight between David and the last of the Nephilim, Goliath, a warrior who was 2.8 meters tall.

If we go to the East, the first story where we can assume the existence of giants is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, written in 1200 BC, in which he is a king who was said to measure in cubits the equivalent of 5.6 m in height, which allowed his arrogance and dominant behavior(1).

In Greek mythology, the descriptions of giants in The Odyssey are famous, with the stories of the Cyclops, among which is Polyphemus, and the existence of the Titans, among which Prometheus is the most famous.

Videos about giants

With a bit of a mixture between legend and what has been found in the excavations of ancient Egypt, the pharaoh most often mentioned as an exponent of acromegaly or gigantism is Akhenaton I, also known as Neferjeperura Amenhotep, Akhenatenaton, Amenhotep IV or Amenophis IV, was the tenth pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty of Egypt. His reign was during the period 1353-1336 BC and belonged to the period called New Egypt. Although Akhenaton had descendants, all the books that talk about acromegaly and gigantism include him as a possible case because the images found of him always showed a height greater than that of his congeners and there was disproportion between his chin, the size of his hands and his feet. However, an article published in the International Journal of Dermatology describes Akhenaton's disease as a cephalothoracic form of progressive lipodystrophy syndrome, based on the elongated face with atrophy of facial fat, and the body pattern of fat distribution that has been found in statues and busts of this sovereign(2).

Akenatón. Neferjeperura Amenhotep, also known as Akhenaten, Akhenaten or Akhenaten (lit., "radiance of the sun"), Amenhotep IV or Amenophis IV was the tenth pharaoh of the XVIIIth dynasty of Egypt. His reign is dated around 1353-1336 BC and belongs to the period called the New Empire. In the fourth year of his reign, he changed his name to Neferjeperura Akhenaten.

America has been no stranger to these tales of giants. Juan de Torquemada (1615), argued that the first inhabitants of America would have been giants and for this reason the finding of large buildings and monuments in the newly discovered America. These stories of giant Indians that inhabited what today corresponds to Patagonia are also added to these accounts. In New Granada there was also a certain interest in these stories and it is said that Eloy de Valenzuela, deputy director of the Botanical Expedition had in his private collection multiple objects of the indigenous cultures of New Granada and among these he had some bones that came from the field of giants of Soacha. In 1792, Viceroy Ezpeleta sent to the court of King Charles IV representative samples of the peoples of New Granada and among those sent was Mr. Pedro Antonio Cano, a peasant from the jurisdiction of Velez, Santander, 21 years old, who measured 7 feet 5 inches (approximately 2.20 m). This fact generated great commotion in Spain and America and was published in the newspapers of the time, Papel Periódico de Santafé de Bogotá and in El Mercurio Peruano and ratified the belief that giants existed in America. His presence within lists of some famous giants is referred to in the book Atlas of Clinical Endocrinology where he is referred to as the Peruvian giant, Pedro Cani (table 1).

Table 1. Data on some of the oldest giants

Subsequent investigations, particularly in the so-called Field of Giants of Soacha, made it possible to clarify that the bones found were not human but corresponded to prehistoric animals of the mastodon family(3).

Unfortunately, from all the above accounts, there is no physical evidence of the presence of gigantism or acromegaly in the history of man. The first evidence of the existence of humans with gigantism or acromegaly comes from archaeological findings in Greece and Rome. In Greece, around 1985, excavations in the central plateau of the acropolis of Eleutherna led to the discovery of the skeletal remains of a person of undetermined sex, aged between 25 and 35 years, corresponding to the 7th century BC. in which it could be evidenced, by the thickness of the cortex of the bones and the changes in the bone fragments of the skull, partial sella turcica, the presence of erosion and widening suggestive of a pituitary tumor and that added to the bony changes in other long bones suggest the presence of acromegaly(4). 

Another finding, this time in Rome, was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2012, indicating that during excavations in the acropolis of the serpentine tower, corresponding to Imperial Rome, 3rd century BC, a complete skeleton was found corresponding to a man of approximately 16 to 20 years of age, whose calculated height was 202 cm. Some bones still showed evidence of the existence of growth cartilage at the time of death, which also suggests that this man suffered from hypogonadism or, at least, had a delay in the closure of the growth cartilages(5). With this finding, therefore, it could be evidenced that the presence of acromegaly or gigantism in ancient Rome was possible, which gives more validity to the stories about Maximus Trax, emperor 235 years B.C., described in the literature as a gigantic man. C. described in literature as a human mountain, and the descriptions of the emperor Ptolemy I Soter, who by the images on the coins minted at the time presented a prognathism and facial changes suggestive of acromegaly, which were later observed in some of his descendants, which would suggest a familial acromegaly.

If we continue along the line of government figures, we find in more recent times the description of a sovereign disproportionately taller than the other members of the Spanish court, with prognathism, poor dental implantation, large hands and feet, and infertility. He ruled between 1454 and 1474 and died of a digestive hemorrhage. To give more credence to the stories, his remains were analyzed by Dr. Gregorio Marañón, who concluded that they belonged to an acromegalic eunuchoid. He was Henry IV, known as The Impotent(6). Similarly, in the French court of the late fifteenth century we find the description of Francis I as a sovereign who was over 2 meters tall, had disproportionately long limbs ending in large hands and feet, a long nose and a prominent chin, features that were difficult to disguise by the painters of the time(7). 

Closer to our days, we find a 2010 Pituitary publication describing the process of changes in his physiognomy that the governor of Baja California Pío de Jesús Pico, the last Mexican governor of these territories at the end of the 18th century, underwent. The photo (Figure 1) shows that, during a period of his life, he had characteristic changes of acromegaly, and that apparently associated with a picture of intense headache, these changes stabilized and resolved, and he died at the age of 89 years of natural causes(8).

In art, an indirect way of expressing everyday experiences, we also see the presence of human figures with acromegaly and gigantism.

In the Far East there is an Indian bas-relief from the 2nd century B.C. that shows the image of a man with acromegaly who is having a tooth removed with the help and strength of an elephant(9).

Among the Mayan ruins a bas-relief was found showing the image of a man who is dressed in typical attire and whose physiognomy shows prominent superciliary arches, separated teeth and prognathism, aspects that are not seen in most of the images and paintings of these peoples(10).

Perhaps the most famous works of art on physiognomy in acromegaly are worked by Michelangelo Caravaggio, who in three different paintings on the victory of David over Goliath (1599, 1607 and 1610) captured in the head of Goliath the typical characteristics of the acromegalic patient.

Figure 1. Evident changes of acromegaly in hands and face of Pio de Jesus Pico, governor of Baja California.

The interesting thing about his work is that it is assumed that the character who served as a model to paint the image of David was Francesco Boneri, possibly his lover, and it is believed that the image corresponding to Goliath was a self-portrait, from which then arises the idea that Caravaggio had acromegaly(11).

Figure 2. Note the size of the hands and the prominent chin in this painting by Paul Serusier.

The painter Paul Serousier, of the post-impressionist movement, captured in his work Louise ou la servante Bretonne (Figure 2) all the characteristics of a woman with acromegaly, four years after the description of the disease by Pierre Marie(12). And in more recent times, Pablo Picasso, creator of the Cubism pictorial movement, painted the work Seated woman, in 1920 and it is surprising to see all the features of acromegaly that this woman had, large hands and feet, attributable to the pictorial movement, but in addition her face also showed prognathism(13).

Finally, it is important to highlight the publications on acromegaly that have come out of the Colombian medical experience. The first description in modern times of a patient with acromegaly was published in 1935 in the journal of the Instituto Nacional de Radium, later Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (Figure 3). This report presents the case of a 25-year-old woman with all the clinical picture of acromegaly, who underwent a skull trepanation to remove the pituitary gland, but unfortunately died in the postoperative period(14).

Seven years later we find the publication in the journal Repertorios de Medicina y Cirugía del Hospital de San José where Dr. Laurentino Muñoz describes a patient with acromegaly from Zipaquirá (Figure 4)(15).

There are people in the world who have dedicated themselves to the search for information on the presence of giants and within the medical body possibly Dr. Wouter W. de Herder is one of them. He has written multiple articles on giants in the medical literature and is the one who makes the best descriptions of the important giants in the medical literature, including Robert Pershing Wadlow, known as the Alton giant, who was born in 1918 and died in 1940, with his stature of 272 cm was possibly the tallest human being in recent history (Figure 7)(16). With the collaboration of Jean Périé and Arjen Gnodde they edited a book, Gigantism & Acromegaly in the 20th Century(17) where we can find fascinating stories about patients with these pathologies during the last century. 

For those interested in the subject, Arjen Gnodde has a web page (http:www. thetallestman.com) where you can find a lot of information about the presence of giants in other activities such as sports and cinema, which, for the sake of space, were not covered in this story. For example, in this page the young Asdrubal Herrera Mora(18), the tallest Colombian at the moment, who measures 2.28 m (figure 5) and lives in Armenia and whom I knew personally, since his treating physician for a time was Dr. John Jairo Duque, who presented it in a medical meeting on acromegalia some years ago.

Article translated from Spanish: Gigantes en la historia.

Referencias

1. Mitchell S, Conversaciones, El retorno de Gilgamesh, Arqueología 2005;58 (3):128.
2. Hoedl S, La enfermedad de Akhenaton . Int J Dermatology 1989; 28(3):201-203.
3. Langebaeck Carl Henrick, Los Herederos del Pasado, Indigenas y pendamiento criollo en Colombia y Venezuela Tomo 1 Ediciones Uniandes Bogota DC., 2009 pags 105-112.
4. Charlier P, Tsigonaki C, Un caso de acromegalia (Grecia, siglo VII d.C.), European Journal of Endocrinology 2011; 165: 819-821.
5. Minozzi S et al, Enfermedad hipofisaria del pasado: Un raro caso de gigantismo en restos óseos de la época imperial romana J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2012;97 (12):4302-4303.
6. Restrepo G, Memoria de la Historia. Historias Clínicas de la Corte de España, Ed Planeta 2000 pags 21-26.
7. Restrepo G. Memoria de la Historia. Historias Clínicas de la Corte de Francia. Ed Planeta 1997 pags 94-100.
8. Login I., Login J., Gobernador Pío Pico, el monstruo de California...no más: lecciones de neuroendocrinología. Pituitaria 2010;13: 80-86.
9. Martino E. Endocrinology and Art Drawing of a tooth to a giant.acromegalic man J. Endocrinol. Invest. 32: 293, 2009.
10. Toni R et al Endocrinología y Arte. Acromegalia y bocio en la población mesoamericana precolombina J. Endocrinol. Invest. 2007; 30: 169-170.
11. Faglia G., Endocrinología y Arte ¿Estaba Caravaggio afectado de acromegalia?.J Endocrinol Invest 2011; 34:85.
12. Pozzilli P Leslie D, Endocrinología y Arte, Louise Ou La servante Bretonne J. Endocrinol. Invest. 2003; 26: 1051.
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14. Barbosa G, Wiesner C., Garavito G., Un Caso de acromegalia en el Instituto Nacional de Radium (1935) Revista Colombiana de Cancerología 2004;
15. 8(2): 52-56.
16. Muñoz L., Un caso de acromegalia en Zipaquira, Repertorios de Medicina y Cirugia 1942;2(12):150-156.
17. W de Herder W Acromegalia y gigantismo en la literatura médica. Descripciones de casos en la época anterior y los primeros años posteriores a la publicación inicial de Pierre Marie (1886) Pituitary (2009) 12:236-244.
18. De Herder W, Perie J Gnodde A Gigantismo y acromegalia en el siglo XX, Publicado por Ipsen Pharma Boulogne-Billacourt, Francia.
19. http://www.thetallestman.com/asdrubalherreramora.htm