The “Plague of Cyprian”

A revised view of the origin and spread of a 3rd-c. CE pandemic

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12374321
AutoresSabine R Huebner (0000-0002-3324-5050, University of Basel, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume34
Fascículo1
Páginas151-174
Data de publicação2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Roman Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1047-7594 • E-ISSN: 2331-5709
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1047759421000349
OpenAlexW3168375702
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas14
Referências citadas39

Kyle Harper's article on the “Plague of Cyprian” that appeared in this journal in 2015 constitutes the only comprehensive study to date of this important disease outbreak in the third quarter of the 3rd c. CE. The current article revisits the main evidence for this epidemic and corrects and improves our understanding of its origin, timeline, and spread. It contends that the disease entered the Roman Empire via Gothic invasions on the Danube rather than traveling up the Nile from inner Africa. It further argues that the disease reached the Roman Empire only after the death of Decius and cannot be connected with the latter's edict commanding sacrifices to the Roman gods, issued in 249 CE. While the pestilence indubitably exacerbated the political and military crisis of the third quarter of the 3rd c. CE, it should probably not be considered as the root of the crisis itself, as Harper has suggested

Ancient history · Archaeology · Cartography · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Disease · Economic history · Empire · Epidemic disease · Genealogy · Geography · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Outbreak · Pandemic · Pathology · Plague (disease · Political science · Politics · Quarter (Canadian coin · Roman Empire · Timeline · Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research · Forensic and Genetic Research · History · Law · Medicine · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research · Virology