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Plague of Athens (1) The Great Plague of Athens took place in 430 - 429 B. C. , when Athens was besieged by Spartans, during the course of second year of Peloponnesian War. The first outbreak of epidemic occurred in the summer of 430 B. C. , which according to contemporary historians, was particularly hot. The second outbreak occurred in the following winter, with actual scope of the plague being significantly lesser then in the summer. There is also some circumstantial evidence as to the fact that the plague had returned in 427 B.
C. , but majority of todays historians do not share the same opinion, in this regard. There are several theories that explain the initial causes of plague. The most credible of them is the one that refers to Athens plague as a result of residents of this city-state indulging in trade with Persians and with Ethiopians little too excessively. Even today, the majority of people in Asia and in Africa simply do not understand what the concept of personal hygiene stands for. This is the reason why historians trace the roots of every major European epidemic in Asia.
The carriers of plague have traditionally been the rats and it appears that they were also the ones responsible for the outbreak of Athens plague. The bulk of information about the plague historians derive out of Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, which is now being commonly referred to as the most accurate historical account of events associated with ancient Greece's Classical period. This, of course, does not mean that Athens plague has not been thoroughly documented by other contemporary historians and writers. However, given the fact that, after becoming legalized in 4 th century A.
D. , Christian fanatics began destroying ancient Greek and Roman intellectual and cultural legacy, it explains why historical information about Athens plague can be best referred to as inconsistent. (2) Given details of Thucydides account of plague, we can conclude that citizens mortality rate, during the course of this epidemic, was reaching 30 %, with adult males succumbing to the disease just as easy as women and children. At the same time, it is quite impossible to come up with definition as to plagues biological subtleties, since Thucydides describes diseases symptoms is rather general terms: As a rule, however, there was no ostensible cause; but people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath (Thucydides, Ch. VII). We can only guess that Athens epidemic was probably a variation of Bubonic plague, because Thucydides tells us that plague was also affecting birds and animals: All the birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching them (though there were many lying unburied), or died after tasting them (Thucydides, Ch. VII). The consequences of Athens plague were truly appalling.
Thucydides estimates that there were at least 20. 000 casualties in the summer of 430 B. C. alone, directly related to the outbreak of epidemic. In its turn, it significantly undermined Athenians morale, during the course of confrontation with Sparta, as plague was being seen as Gods actually favoring Spartans. Without being able to define plagues physiological nature, Athenian physicians were still able to link the outbreak of epidemic with imported exotic goods: It first began, it is said, in the parts of Ethiopia (Thucydides, Ch.
VII), which made citizens of this city-state to begin exercising utmost caution, within a context of practicing international trade in later years. Bibliography: Axarlis, Nikos Plague Victims Found: Mass Burial in Athens. 28 Apr. 1998. Archeology. Org. 27 Oct. 2008.
web Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War. Translated by Richard Crawley. 2004. Project Gutenberg. 27 Oct. 2008. web Thucydides. 2008. Wikipedia. 27 Oct. 2008.
web Outline: Part 1 p. 1 Part 2 p. 2
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