History’s Most Deadly Pandemics, From the Antonine Plague
wellbeing in the population that was exposed to the Antonine Plague (Section 2), and to ascertain the nature and the absolute and relative scale of the epidemics’ effect on real incomes (Section 3).1 The main purpose of this exercise is to provide context and some putative indirect evidence for an event whose actual demographic impact cannot be When the System Breaks Down, Leaders Stand Up We’re talking, of course, about the Antonine Plague of 165 CE, a global pandemic with a mortality rate of between 2-3%, which began with flu-like symptoms until it escalated and became gruesome and painfully fatal. Millions were infected. Between 10 and 18 million people eventually died. A model of demographic and economic change in Roman Egypt In a new study, I propose a maximum grand total of 5 to 7 million before the Antonine plague: Scheidel, W., Death on the Nile: disease and the demography of Roman Egypt (Leiden 2002) chapt. 3. A starvation diet would have supported an even larger population. Plague in the Ancient World 19 Based on demographic studies, the average mortality rate during the Antonine plague was probably only 7-10% and possibly 13-15% in cities and armies; R.J. and M.L. Littman, "Galen and the Antonine Plague," American Journal of Philology 94 (1973) 254-55.
Jun 13, 2019
The Antonine Plague hit the Roman Empire in two waves, the first from 165 CE to 180 CE and the second from 251 CE to 266 CE. It killed millions, and hastened the collapse of the Roman Empire.
The Antonine Plague of 165 to 180 AD, also known as the Plague of Galen (after Galen, the physician who described it), was an ancient pandemic brought to the Roman Empire by troops who were returning from various campaigns. It is thought that the disease may have been either smallpox or measles. The plague possibly claimed the life […]
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