Book contents
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Copyright page
- Frontispiece
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Empire
- Chapter 1 Germs and Empire
- Chapter 2 Imperial Integration on Rome’s Atlantic Rim
- Chapter 3 The Ambitions of Government
- Chapter 4 Contingency and Context
- Part II Religion
- Appendix: Bibliography of Brent D. Shaw’s Publications to 2020
- Index
- References
Chapter 1 - Germs and Empire
The Agency of the Microscopic
from Part I - Empire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 August 2021
By
Edited by
Book contents
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Copyright page
- Frontispiece
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Empire
- Chapter 1 Germs and Empire
- Chapter 2 Imperial Integration on Rome’s Atlantic Rim
- Chapter 3 The Ambitions of Government
- Chapter 4 Contingency and Context
- Part II Religion
- Appendix: Bibliography of Brent D. Shaw’s Publications to 2020
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the state of knowledge about the Antonine Plague, an empire-wide pandemic that struck from the mid-160s. It emphasizes that even against the backdrop of the unhealthy environment of the Roman empire, the Antonine Plague stood out as an extraordinary event in its geographical scope and biological impact. The stories of the Roman armies introducing the plague on their return from the Parthian campaign deserve greater scrutiny, as they are likely colored by imperial propaganda concerning Avidius Cassius and Lucius Verus, but the notion that the disease was caused by a pathogen carried into the Roman empire from without, likely along Red Sea and Indian Ocean trading routes, is plausible.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World , pp. 13 - 34Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Primary Sources
Aelius Aristides = Behr, C. A. (ed.) (1981–1986) P. Aelius Aristides: The Complete Works, 2 vols., Leiden.Google Scholar
Ammianus Marcellinus = Rolfe, J. C. (trans.) (1935–1939) Ammianus Marcellinus: Histories, Loeb Classical Library 300, 315, 331, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Galen Bon. Mal. Succ. = De bonis malisque succis. Koch, K. et al. (eds.) (1923) CMG 5.4.2, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Galen Hipp. Epid. = In Hippocratis librum III epidemiarum commentarii III. Wenkebach, E. (ed.) (1936) CMG 5.10.2.1, 1–187, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Galen Meth. Med. = De methodo medendi. Johnston, I. and Horsley, G. H. R. (eds.) (2011) Galen: Method of Medicine, 3 vols., Loeb Classical Library 516–518, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Galen Morb. Temp. = De morborum temporibus. Wille, I. (ed.) (1960) Die Schrift Galens Peri tõn en tais nósois kairõn und ihre Überlieferung, diss., Universität zu Kiel.Google Scholar
Galen Temp. = De temperamentis. Singer, P. N. (trans.) (1997) Galen: Selected Works, Oxford.Google Scholar
Historia Augusta = Magie, D. (trans.) (1921) Historia Augusta, Loeb Classical Library 139, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Lucian = Alexander. Harmon, A. M. (trans.) (1925) Lucian, vol. 4, Loeb Classical Library 162, Cambridge, MA: 174–252.Google Scholar
Pliny the Elder = Jahn, L., Semi, F., and Mayhoff, C. (eds.) (1967–1980) C. Plini Secundi Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Secondary Sources
Babkin, I. V. and Babkina, I. N. (2012) “A Retrospective Study of the Orthopoxvirus Molecular Evolution,” Infection, Genetics and Evolution 12: 1597–1604.Google Scholar
Babkin, I. V. and Babkina, I. N. (2015) “The Origin of the Variola Virus,” Viruses 7: 1100–1112.Google Scholar
Bagnall, R. (2002) “The Effects of Plague: Model and Evidence,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 15: 114–120.Google Scholar
Bazin-Tacchela, S, Quéruel, D., and Samama, E. (eds.) (2001) Air, miasmes et contagion: les épidémies dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Âge, Prez-sur-Marne.Google Scholar
Birley, A. R. (2000) “Hadrian to the Antonines,” in Garnsey, P., Rathbone, D., and Bowman, A. K. (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 11: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192, Cambridge: 132–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bos, K. I. et al. (2014) “Pre-Columbian Mycobacterial Genomes Reveal Seals as a Source of New World Human Tuberculosis,” Nature 514: 494–497.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowersock, G. W. (2001) “Lucius Verus in the Near East,” in Evers, C. and Tsingarida, A. (eds.), Rome et ses provinces. Hommages à Jean Charles Balty, Brussels: 73–77.Google Scholar
Bruun, C. (2003) “The Antonine Plague in Rome and Ostia,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 16: 426–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruun, C. (2007) “The Antonine Plague and the ‘Third-Century’ Crisis,” in Hekster, O., de Kleijn, G., and Slootjes, D. (eds.), Crises and the Roman Empire: Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire, Nijmegen, June 20–24, 2006, Leiden: 201–217.Google Scholar
Casson, L. (1989) The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, Princeton.Google Scholar
Casson, L. (1990) “New Light on Maritime Loans: P. Vindob. G 40822,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 84: 195–206.Google Scholar
Conrad, L. I. (1981) The Plague in the Early Medieval Near East, diss., University of Princeton.Google Scholar
De Romanis, F. (2015) “Comparative Perspectives on the Pepper Trade,” in De Romanis, F. and Maiuro, M. (eds.), Across the Ocean: Nine Essays on Indo-Roman Trade, Leiden: 127–150.Google Scholar
Duggan, A. et al. (2016) “17th Century Variola Virus Reveals the Recent History of Smallpox,” Current Biology 26: 3407–3412.Google Scholar
Duncan-Jones, R. P. (1996) “The Impact of the Antonine Plague,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 9: 108–193.Google Scholar
Durliat, J. (1989) “La peste du VIe siècle. Pour un nouvel examen des sources byzantines,” in Lefort, J. and Morrisson, J. (eds.), Hommes et richesses dans l’empire byzantin, I: IVe–VIIe siècle, Paris: 107–119.Google Scholar
Eddy, J. J. (2015) “The Ancient City of Rome, Its Empire, and the Spread of Tuberculosis in Europe,” Tuberculosis 95: 23–28.Google Scholar
Elliott, C. (2016) “The Antonine Plague, Climate Change and Local Violence in Roman Egypt,” Past & Present 231: 3–31.Google Scholar
Gitler, H. (1990) “Numismatic Evidence on the Visit of Marcus Aurelius to the East,” Israel Numismatic Journal 11: 36–51.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, D. (2005) “The Galenic Plague: A Breakdown of the Imperial Pathocoenosis and Longue Durée,” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 27: 57–69.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. (2003) “Plagued by Doubt: Reconsidering the Impact of a Mortality Crisis in the 2nd c. A.D.,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 16: 413–425.Google Scholar
Harper, K. (2015a) “Pandemics and Passages to Late Antiquity: Rethinking the Plague of c. 249–270 Described by Cyprian,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 28: 223–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, K. (2015b) “A Time to Die: Preliminary Notes on Seasonal Mortality in Late Antique Rome,” in Laes, C., Mustakallio, K., and Vuolanto, V. (eds.), Children and Family in Late Antiquity: Life, Death and Interaction, Leuven: 15–34.Google Scholar
Harper, K. (2016a) “Another Eyewitness to the Plague Described by Cyprian and Notes on the ‘Persecution of Decius,’” Journal of Roman Archaeology 29: 473–476.Google Scholar
Harper, K. (2016b) “People, Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World: The Evidence from Egypt,” Journal of Economic History 76: 803–839.Google Scholar
Harper, K. (2017) The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, K. (2019) “Invisible Environmental History: Infectious Disease in Late Antiquity,” in Izdebski, A. and Mulryan, M. (eds.), Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity, Leiden: 298–313.Google Scholar
Horden, P. (2005) “Mediterranean Plague in the Age of Justinian,” in Maas, M. (ed.), Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, Cambridge: 134–160.Google Scholar
Howgego, C., Butcher, K. Ponting, M., et al. (2010) “Coinage and the Roman Economy in the Antonine Period: The View from Egypt,” Oxford Roman Economy Project: Working Papers.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. et al. (2017) “Shaping the Latitudinal Diversity Gradient: New Perspectives from a Synthesis of Paleobiology and Biogeography,” American Naturalist 189: 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, C. P. (2005) “Ten Dedications ‘To the Gods and Goddesses’ and the Antonine Plague,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 18: 293–301.Google Scholar
Jones, C. P. (2006) “Addendum to JRA 18 (2005): Cosa and the Antonine Plague?” Journal of Roman Archaeology 19: 368–369.Google Scholar
Jones, C. P. (2016) “An Amulet from London and Events Surrounding the Antonine Plague,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 29: 469–472.Google Scholar
Little, L. K. (ed.) (2007) Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541–750, New York.Google Scholar
Littman, R. J. and Littman, M. L. (1973) “Galen and the Antonine Plague,” The American Journal of Philology 94 (3): 243–255.Google Scholar
Locey, K. and Lennon, J. (2016) “Scaling Laws Predict Global Microbial Diversity,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113: 5970–5975.Google Scholar
Marcone, A. (2002) “La peste antonina: Testimonianze e interpretazioni,” Rivista storica italiana 114: 803–819.Google Scholar
Marino, A. (2012) “Una rilettura delle fonti storico-letterarie sulla peste di età antonina,” in Lo Cascio, E. (ed.), L’impatto della “peste antonina,” Bari: 29–62.Google Scholar
Meier, M. (2003) Das andere Zeitalter Justinians: Kontingenzerfahrung und Kontingenzbewältigung im 6. Jahrhundert n. Chr., Göttingen.Google Scholar
Meier, M. (2005) “‘Hinzu kam auch noch die Pest … ’ Die sogenannte Justinianische Pest und ihre Folgen,” in Meier, M. (ed.), Pest – Die Geschichte eines Menschheitstraumas, Stuttgart: 86–107, 396–400.Google Scholar
Meier, M. (2016) “The ‘Justinianic Plague’: The Economic Consequences of the Pandemic in the Eastern Roman Empire and Its Cultural and Religious Effects,” Early Medieval Europe 24: 267–292.Google Scholar
Mitchell, P. D. (2017) “Human Parasites in the Roman World: Health Consequences of Conquering an Empire,” Parasitology 144: 48–58.Google Scholar
Mitchell, S. (2015) A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD, 284–641, 2nd ed., Malden.Google Scholar
Packard, R. (2011) The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Rathbone, D. W. (1996) “Monetisation, Not Price-inflation, in Third-Century AD, Egypt?,” in King, C. E. and Wigg, D. G. (eds.), Coin Finds and Coin Use in the Roman World: The Thirteenth Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Monetary History, 25.–27.3.1993, Berlin: 321–339.Google Scholar
Rathbone, D. W. (1997) “Prices and Price Formation in Roman Egypt,” in Economie antique. Prix et formation des prix dans les economies antiques, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges: 183–244.Google Scholar
Rathbone, D. W. (2000) “The ‘Muziris’ Papyrus (SB XVIII 13167): Financing Roman Trade with India,” in El-Abbadi, M. et al. (eds.), Alexandrian Studies II in Honour of Mostafa El Abbadi, Alexandria: 39–50.Google Scholar
Robin, C. (1992) “Guerre et épidémie dans les royaumes d’Arabie du Sud, d’après une inscription datée (IIe s. de l’ère chrétienne),” Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 136: 215–234.Google Scholar
Rossignol, B. (2012) “Le climat, les famines et la guerre: éléments du contexte de la peste antonine,” in Lo Cascio, E. (ed.), L’impatto della “peste antonina,” Bari: 87–122.Google Scholar
Sarris, P. (2002) “The Justinianic Plague: Origins and Effects,” Continuity and Change 17: 169–182.Google Scholar
Scheidel, W. (2002) “A Model of Demographic and Economic Change in Roman Egypt After the Antonine Plague,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 15: 97–114.Google Scholar
Sender, R., Fuchs, S., and Milo, R. (2016) “Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body,” PLOS Biology 14 (8): e1002533.Google Scholar
Shaw, B. (1996) “Seasons of Death: Aspects of Mortality in Imperial Rome,” Journal of Roman Studies 86: 100–138.Google Scholar
Shaw, B. (2000) “Rebels and Outsiders,” in Garnsey, P., Rathbone, D., and Bowman, A. K. (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 11: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192, Cambridge: 361–403.Google Scholar
Sigl, M. et al. (2015) “Timing and Climate Forcing of Volcanic Eruptions for the Past 2,500 Years,” Nature, 523: 543–562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stathakopoulos, D. (2000) “The Justinianic Plague Revisited,” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 24: 256–276.Google Scholar
Stathakopoulos, D. (2004) Famine and Pestilence in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine Empire: A Systematic Survey of Subsistence Crises and Epidemics, Burlington.Google Scholar
Stephens, P. et al. (2016) “The Macroecology of Infectious Diseases: A New Perspective on Global-Scale Drivers of Pathogen Distributions and Impacts,” Ecology Letters 19: 1159–1171.Google Scholar
Strauch, I. (ed.) (2012) Foreign Sailors on Socotra: The Inscriptions and Drawings from the Cave Hoq, Bremen.Google Scholar
Tomlin, R. S. O. (2014) “‘Drive Away the Cloud of Plague’: A Greek Amulet from Roman London,” in Collins, R. and McIntosh, F. (eds.), Life in the Limes: Studies of the People and Objects of the Roman Frontiers Presented to Lindsay Allason-Jones on the Occasion of Her Birthday and Retirement, Oxford: 197–205.Google Scholar
van Minnen, P. (2001) “P. Oxy. LXVI 4527 and the Antonine Plague in the Fayyum,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 135: 175–177.Google Scholar
Woolhouse, M. and Gaunt, E. (2007) “Ecological Origins of Novel Human Pathogens,” Critical Reviews in Microbiology 33: 231–242.Google Scholar
Zehender, G. et al. (2018) “Bayesian Reconstruction of the Evolutionary History and Cross-Species Transition of Variola Virus and Orthopoxviruses,” Journal of Medical Virology 90 (6): 1134–1141.Google Scholar
Zelener, Y. (2003) Smallpox and the Disintegration of the Roman Economy after 165 AD, PhD diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar