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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The discussion by Hirschmann and colleagues¹ on Herod’s cause of death took into account information provided by Josephus in the War of Jews.² After reviewing Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews,² we came across 2 prominent and rare symptoms that may suggest a different explanation for Herod’s death: platypnea and a voracious appetite.

When reviewing the translation of the Antiquities of the Jews by Whiston,² we found "when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing, which was very loathsome." There are discrepancies in the translation of this paragraph, and other authors talk only about "difficulty of breath" or "tormented breathing." However, when using the Perseus Project Database (Department of the Classics at Tufts University, Medford, Mass), which allows textual analysis and word-by-word translation, we came up with "a blowing limitation when straight up."

Platypnea is a rare syndrome defined by dyspnea induced by the upright position and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Miguel G. Madariaga, MD; Phillip W. Smith, MD

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