The deadliest plague of antiquity was the Peloponnesian War
The plague in Athens in 430 BC is an example of the impact of disease on the course of history. At that time, Athens was in its heyday. This tiny Greek city-state defeated the mighty Persian king Darius. However, the good times did not last long, and in 431 BC, a war broke out between Athens and Sparta, the two most powerful city-states in Greece, known as the Peloponnesian War. In contrast to Sparta, which had a strong army, Athens had a powerful navy, which could defeat Sparta or at least maintain a balance between defensive warfare on land and offensive warfare at sea, and was able to provide Athens with sufficient supplies through a steady stream of supplies from overseas. However, a plague changed the course of the war.
In 430 BC, a cancer epidemic arose in Ethiopia and soon swept through northern and western Africa, crossing the Mediterranean from Egypt to the port of Piraeus and onto Athens. Many healthy people suddenly contracted the plague without warning.
This plague was unprecedented at the time. Hippocrates, known in the West as the "father of medicine", lived in Thessaly at the time, but he left no description of the plague.
The Hidicasian historian Thucydides documented the plague in his Peloponnesian War. He gave a detailed description of the symptoms of the plague: the plague had no incubation period, the patient's head was violently hot after infection, the eyes were red and inflamed, the throat and tongue were quickly engorged, and then began to breathe poorly, sneezing and hoarseness, coughing violently, nausea, violent convulsions, the surface of the body was not too hot to the touch, and the complexion did not look too pale, but gradually it would show a pale gray color from blue to red, and pus and ulcers would grow on the surface of the skin. Many also experience insomnia and restlessness.
He also said that patients had an unquenchable thirst that forced them to jump into the well themselves. Infected people usually die on the seventh or eighth day after infection. If someone survives this time, he or she will develop uncontrollable diarrhea, which often leads to death as well. Those who survive this stage may endure paralysis, forgetfulness, or blindness for life. Fortunately, very few people get a second infection, and even if they do, it's not fatal.
The academic community has not given a generally accepted conclusion about what kind of disease the plague of Athens was, and there is no conclusive conclusion in the history of medicine. One can only speculate based on the symptoms that the Athenian cancer plague may be smallpox, bubonic plague, typhus or measles.
The plague in Athens was undoubtedly one of the important factors in the demise of the Athenian Empire. Thucydides, as a historian with no medical training, worked primarily to record history objectively, but his writings devoted to the plague and the detailed recording of the symptoms of the patients, which shows that this plague was not only unprecedented, but also had a great impact on the course of the war and the fate of Athens.
The plague had a series of effects on Athens and Greece. The first effect of the plague in Athens was the massive death of the city's population. Pericles moved the rural population into the city before the Spartans besieged Athens, resulting in overcrowding. Thus, although the plague only raged for a short time, it caused a large number of deaths. The exact death toll is not known because there are no exact population records, but it is estimated that tens of thousands died from the plague. Many believe that the cancer plague that struck Athens was the deadliest disease in ancient Greek history.
In addition to its immediate death toll, the plague also led to a breakdown in morale. It is also a common phenomenon in times of pandemic disease.
Perhaps the most significant effect of the plague on Athens was its blow to Athenian politics. The plague claimed the life of Pericles, who is hailed as the greatest statesman of his time. In almost all history books, scholars have praised Pericles with the same voice, for his wisdom, courage, and incorruptibility. His death may have changed the outcome of the entire war, and if the Spartan overture of peace in the winter of 425 BC to 424 BC might have brought an early end to the protracted war, the Sicilian expedition of 415 BC probably did not take place. The Peloponnesian War was essentially a conflict between Athens and Sparta. Athens had the most powerful navy of its time, while Sparta had the most powerful army of its time. So Pericles sought to avoid land conflict with the Spartan army and to protect Athenian trade with his navy in order to gain a steady stream of financial support and eventually bring down his rivals.
The plague also triggered profound social changes, with profound effects on both Athens and Greece. There is a socio-political inference for the Great Plague of 430 BC. The plague destroys first the human flesh and then the norms and value systems of civilized society. The plague struck all classes, rich and poor. The doctors were helpless, and they themselves died in large numbers.
Thucydides highlighted this consequence in his analysis of the effects of the plague. The shadow of death caused by the plague unleashed anarchism that engulfed the entire city. People begin to live in the moment, self-indulgence, ignoring all sacredness and laws, indulging in gluttony and alcoholism. Thucydides described the Athenians as follows: Neither the gods of heaven nor the laws of the world could restrain man. For the former, it was found that one would die whether or not one worshiped God; As for the latter, no one expects to live to the day they are sentenced. Time-honored customs and social constraints were left behind, and with the decline of civic duty and religious belief, superstition began to prevail, and people especially indulged in ancient oracles.
The plague created an atmosphere that crushed the spiritual pillars of the city. The plague may have upset the delicate balance between individual interests and the public good. Before the plague, Athens developed an atmosphere of high social responsibility that was able to effectively subordinate the ambitions of individuals or parties to greater social needs. As the cynicism and despair brought about by the plague spread, the Athenians increasingly displayed a self-centered state of mind.
The plague killed many people and demoralized the capital, especially after the Sicilian expedition, when naval power was devastated, making it impossible for Athens to launch a decisive attack on Sparta. By 404 BC, the Peloponnesian War ended with the defeat of Athens.
