Plague Archives - Page 2 of 2

Did Ebola First Strike In Ancient Greece?

Live Science reports. The first official record of an Ebola outbreak in humans is from 1976, when the disease struck the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet the Plague of Athens, also called by scientists the Thucydides syndrome because the ancient historian himself contracted it and later recorded the events from the time, had pretty similar symptoms to the viral disease. These included headache, fever, fatigue, stomach pain and pains in the joints as well as severe vomiting, diarrhea, and reddening of the eyes. According to Thucydides, some of the affected also experienced coughs, rashes, seizure, and even loss of digits, perhaps due to tissue necrosis. The illness that struck ancient Greece also caused severe dehydration. Kazanjian is basing his suggestion not only on the similarity of symptoms, however. Based on Thucydides records, the Plague of Athens originated in sub-Saharan Africa, a region the ancient historian and his contemporaries called Aethiopia and also the region where modern outbreaks of Ebola have occurred, the researcher told Live Science. He believes the virus was spread by Africans who had traveled to Greece in search of employment as servants and farmers. In modern times, it has been established that two species of fruit bats native to sub-Saharan Africa are carriers of the disease and since bat soup is a delicacy in the region, there has been a suggestion that this is the way in which the zoonosis passed from the animals to people. The disease in Athens, Thucydides wrote, killed the sufferers within seven to nine days (as Ebola typically does), and only a minority survived. What’s more, physicians and those who attended to the sick were among the first to die, which is true of modern Ebola outbreaks, although this has also been true of other highly infectious diseases through the ages. One further parallel between the Plague of Athens and modern Ebola outbreaks is how fear aggravated the sufferers’ condition and also helped the spread of the disease as people crowded together. Kazanjian writes in his paper that Thucydides’ account of the period provides a historical perspective to how communities react to the outbreak today, often making it more difficult for medical personnel and volunteers to control the outbreak. The latest outbreak of the virus in Africa took 11,000 lives, according to figures from the World Health Organisation, out of around 27,000 people who contracted it. According to WHO records this was the largest Ebola outbreak in history. The Plague of Athens struck the city state during its war with Sparta, the Peloponnesian War, Ancient Origins notes, leading to the death of about a quarter of its population. The cause of the outbreak has been subject to much debate, with suggestions ranging from smallpox and typhus, to bubonic plague and anthrax. Kazanjian himself does not insist that his suggestion should end the debate, admitting the cause of the Plague of Athens “remains elusive.” For more information: “Ebola in Antiquity?” Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user: Thomas W. Geisbert, Boston University School of Medicine]]>

Crossrail Reveals an Extensive Burial Ground

th Century BC for a steward named Harwa and was used even after his death. Harwa’s successor Akhimenru’s tomb can also be found here. A group of scientists who work for the Italian Archaeological Mission to Luxor (MAIL) have finally found a major breakthrough, laying fruit to the 15 years of excavation and research work that has been performed in the region. Recent archaeological excavations have unearthed the remains of a number of victims who fell to the ancient plague that was termed as the end of the world by St. Cyprian. LiveScience reports that the remains found by archaeologists at the site were covered with a layer of lime, an ingredient that was used as a disinfectant in history. Researchers have also uncovered kilns where this lime was produced and countless human remains that have been scattered over something that resembles a monstrous bonfire. This has led theorists to believe that the plague victims were incinerated in Ancient Egypt. Researchers have also found pottery within the kiln that allows them to date the site to the 3^rd Century AD, a period when the Plague of Cyprian was ravaging through the entire Roman Empire. Bishop Saint Cyprian further chronicled accounts of the suffering of those afflicted by the plague in his Latin text that has been entitled De Mortalitate. According to the saint, excessive vomiting, limbs being taken off due to contagion and bleeding from the eyes were common among all plague victims. Plague might have been termed as a form of measles or smallpox by modern day scientists, but it certainly took its toll on the Roman Empire and Ancient Egypt. Apart from claiming more than 5000 people on a daily basis in Rome, it also claimed two emperors (Hostilian and Claudius II Gothicus). Even though the plague was not the end of the world as predicted by Saint Cyprian, most historians believe that the great plague of Cyprus was one of the major reasons that weakened the Roman Empire and ultimately led to its downfall. The lack of religious rites at the funeral complexes also give rise to theories that the ancients tried to curb the spread of the disease by burying their dead in a quick and efficient manner. The burial monument also has traces of being abandoned after the plague, never to be used again. According to Francesco Tiradritti, the director of MAIL, the fact that these sites were used for burial of infected corpses doomed them for centuries until tomb raiders once again entered them in the 19^th century. The discovery of this undisturbed complex also allows historians to further their insights into an era known as the Pharaonic Renaissance, a period that lasted from the 7^th Century BC to the 6^th Century BC. ]]>