НАСЛЕЂЕ АТИНСКЕ КУГЕ 430-426. Г. П.Н.Е. (I): АНАЛИЗА ИЗВОРА И ПРОБЛЕМ ИДЕНТИФИКАЦИЈЕ
LEGACY OF THE ATHENIAN PLAGUE 430–426 BC (I): SOURCE ANALYSIS AND THE ISSUE OF IDENTIFICATION

Summary/Abstract: In the early days of the Peloponnesian War, around the beginning of the summer of 430 BC, Athenians suffered the outbreak of a virulent epidemic. The disease struck at the very moment when the Peloponnesian army, led by king Archidamus II of Sparta, was devastating the countryside. The urban areas of Athens and Piraeus were crowded with refugees. It was by far the greatest natural disaster in the history of ancient Athens, its destructive effects amplified by war time conditions. Doctors were unable to treat the unknown disease and were often among its early victims. After the initial eruption of the pestilence (430–429 BC), there was a lull (428), then and a second, less powerful though still very deadly outbreak (427–426). Any further outbreak is not mentioned by our sources. The sickness spread outside of Attica, but with much diminished effect, because conditions similar to those in Athens (large population, probably well over 200,000 people, cramped in a very limited space) were not present elsewhere in Greece. Clearly, we are dealing with the historical event of the greatest importance, an event that generated much modern discussion and vast scholarly literature. Yet, the sources that provide information on it are few in number and limited in scope. The only lengthy and detailed contemporary description is that of Thucydides (2.47–54, 3.87). Other Greek authors of the Classical era rarely speak of the plague (Plat. Symp. 201d), and when they do so it is more often vaguely alluded (Soph. OT 27–30) than referred to directly. None of the texts in the Corpus Hippocraticum mention the plague. There is a noticeable tendency to consign this unfortunate event to oblivion. The lack of contemporary evidence is only partly mended by the later authors (D. S. 12.45.2; 12.46.5; 12.58; Plut. Per. 34, 3–4). There is, however, strong archaeological evidence of the plague in the form of mass burials (Baziotopoulou-Valavani 2002). Most of what we know comes from clear and detailed account of Thucydides. According to him, it was believed that sickness originated in the far south, in parts of Nubia near Egypt; it spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and reached Athens by merchant vessels, the initial outbreak began in Piraeus. Upon receiving the news of the disease, the Peloponnesian army left Attica in haste, while Athenians were struck by panic. Thucydides insists that, while disease did spread outside Attica, its effects were minor; but this claim should be met with skepticism, because it reflects writer’s Athenian perspective. Thucydides describes the symptoms of the plague in striking detail. Naturally, there were many attempts in the past to use his description to identify the disease, all of them more or less unsuccessful. Bubonic plague, smallpox, measles, typhus, ergotism, typhoid, and Ebola were among many candidates that were considered and rejected. Some attempts were made to bypass this difficulty by claiming that Thucydides was not precise enough in his description or that he omitted important symptoms or even that his description is a pure fiction. Ultimately, any attempt to solve the problem by altering or “fixing” his texts is arbitrary and unhelpful. Much was made of the fact that Thucydides was not a medical professional (though a degree of familiarity with medical literature on his part is likely), but this is actually a minor issue. The medical science of his time was in its early days and there was no real understanding of infectious disease. In fact, his observations on the ways the disease spread and on the immunity gained by convalescents went far ahead of the current medical knowledge. But we must keep in mind that microorganisms change and evolve at a comparatively quick pace; they also die out. It is, therefore, possible and even likely that the Athenian plague (the “Thucydides syndrome”) is either completely extinct or that it changed so much that its current symptoms differ drastically from those described by Thucydides.

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