Objective To study the characteristics of glioma with epilepsy as the initial symptom and to provide a reference for therapy of epilepsy. Methods Patients with a pathological diagnosis of glioma and with epilepsy as the initial symptom, who were admitted to Neurosurgery Department, Beijing Tiantan Hospital during January 2011 to August 2012, were included in the study. The relationship of epileptic seizure with tumor location and pathology was analyzed. Results 171 patients with a pathological diagnosis of supratentorial glioma were collected, 64 of whom had epilepsy as the initial symptom. The incidence of epilepsy in patients with low-grade gliomas was significantly higher than that in the patients with high-grade gliomas (P<0.05). The incidence of epilepsy in patients with astrocytoma and oligoastrocytoma was significantly higher than that in the patients with other pathological types of gliomas (P<0.05). The incidence of epilepsy was significantly higher in patients with gliomas located in the frontal lobe or frontal-parietal lobe than in patients with gliomas in other locations (P<0.05). Conclusions The incidence of epilepsy in patients with gliomas is closely related to the intracerebral location and pathological type of the tumors.