Epidemic in ancient Greece
This is an anecdote of two glorious cities of Greece- Athens and Sparta(occupying the lands of Peloponnese(southernmost peninsula of Greece)), dated back to 431 BC when the Peloponnesian war began. Spartans wanted to subjugate the Attic region where Athens and its allies were located. The Peloponnesian war was supposed to shift the power to the Mediterranean region.
The power of Spartan soldiers and the Navy of Athens were handcuffed to alter the predestination of the war.
Instead, something unimaginable happened; the notorious plague of Athens. A medical mystery to this date, that kicked off in the second year of the war (430 BC).
Piraeus, the port region of Athens, was rumored to have the walls of the fort poisoned by Spartans, owing to the fact that Spartans weren’t affected to the magnitude by which Athenians were.
As the plague escalated, the leader of Athens- Pericles, asked the rural people of Attic to come within the walls of Athens so that they were extricated from the plague. But instead it raised the rate of contagion(as we see by the example of Covid-19).
It shortly took the shape of an epidemic.
The main source of information that we get about the Peloponnesian war and the plague of Athens is from the book “The history of Peloponnesian War ‘’ by Thucydides. He wrote of the belief that Spartans caused the plague by poisoning the wells. He experienced the awfulness of the plague and was one of those who survived. In his book, he goes on to broach about the symptoms and the situation of that time.
The prodromes included: sudden attacks of heats in the head, redness and inflammation in the eyes and the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and malodorous breath. Other symptoms were:
“sneezing and hoarseness”, “hard cough” ,“discharges of bile” and “violent spasms”.
Getting into this plight meant that the person would perish within 7 to 9 days. If one succeeded in keeping the body and soul together, one would endure from a sequela(permanent loss of memory or loss of a body part such as limbs, genitals etc). Corpses were piled up on the streets and half alive humans lurched on the floor of the city.
Those who vanquished the plague, considered themselves to face any ordeal that came their way.
The cure of this idiopathic disease was not known due to its nobility.
As the archaic belief exists, in this case too, people thought that the epidemic had to be the work of a wrathful deity.
Athenians believed that Spartans were guarded by God Apollo, who spread the disease among them. Overwhelmed by the impact of the epidemic and the lack of support of God, people of Athens started condemning their leader- Pericles.
He was denounced for not prioritizing hygiene and was not re-elected as the next strategist.
After being removed from the office, he(in 429 BC), his son and his sister, all perished due to the plague(according to the historian Plutarch).
The epidemic’s final wave came in 426 BC and almost one third population of Athens was wiped out.
The Spartans won, destroying the Athenian fleet at sea in 405 BC and the golden age of Athens came to an end. The war finally ended in 404 BC.
CODA
Scientists are still unable to find the source of the epidemic because of the use of the word “plague” by Thucydides. Some reckoned that it was related to black death (of the 14th century).Some scientists have carried out analysis on dental decay from the grave found in 1994 dating back to 430 BC but haven’t confirmed anything yet. 93% of the DNA matched to typhoid causing bacteria.
Moreover, a lot of the symptoms mentioned by Thucydides were similar to Ebola virus. If indeed, the plague was caused by an RNA virus( which decays easily), then the identity of the source will remain a mystery for the nonce.
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