Secretary Jimmy Fraley
Plagues in Rome
Now, more than ever, health and wellness are on everyone’s mind, as the entire world has to deal with an unfamiliar illness, Coronavirus. However, widespread disease and pandemics are by no means exclusively a modern issue. Yet deadly viruses and plagues are nothing new, so here is a brief history of the various plagues that affected Ancient Rome.
The Antonine Plague
Also referred to as the Plague of Galen, the Antonine Plague first struck the Roman Empire in the year 165 CE, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. It also resurfaced from 251 CE- 266 CE. Many modern researchers believe that the disease was smallpox. Most likely originating in China and brought to Rome through the Silk Road, Roman soldiers coming back from the eastern portion of the Roman Empire brought the illness back to Rome. According to the Greek physician Galen, the symptoms of the plague included fever, vomiting, sore throat, diarrhea, and coughing. The coughing produced an odor and the plague caused red and black skin eruptions as well as rashes all over the body. Although many people died from the disease, including co-emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius, it was not necessarily fatal. This plague is believed to have brought down the Roman Empire, eventually leading to its fall.
The Plague of Cyprian
The Plague of Cyprian started in Ethiopia around 250 CE and lasted for 20 years. It spread rapidly due to the large amounts of conflict occurring around the empire. At its peak, the plague killed as many as 5000 people per day. Symptoms included diarrhea, vomiting, fever, deafness, blindness, paralysis of the lower body, throat swelling, bleeding from the eyes, and stained mouths. This disease almost always resulted in death, and led to the death of emperors Hostilian and Claudius II Gothicus. The actual disease that produced these symptoms is still unknown today. The disease helped to weaken the hold of paganism on the Roman Empire, and ultimately aided in the spread of Christianity, as many people viewed the plague as a failure by the emperor’s and pagan gods.
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