Plagues have fascinated us since antiquity, but the Antonine Plague stands out because one of the most famous physicians in Western history was present to make detailed observations. In this episode, guest host Liam Conway-Pearson explores what we know -- and what we don't know -- about this plague, which ravaged Rome two millennia ago. Plus a brand new #AdamAnswers about using convalescent plasma to treat the Spanish Flu of 1918!

Sources:

Adrian Muraru, “On Galen of Pergamum: The Greek Physician and Philosopher of Late Antiquity in the Roman Empire,” Agathos 9, no.2 (2018): 7-20.



H. Clifford Lane and Anthony S. Fauci, “Microbial Bioterrorism,” in Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 20e, ed. J. Larry Jameson et al. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2018), S2.



James Greenberg, “Plagued by Doubt: Reconsidering the Impact of a Mortality Crisis in the 2nd C. A.D.,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 16 (2003): 413-425.



Jennifer Manley, “Measles and Ancient Plagues: A Note on New Scientific Evidence,” Classical World 107, no. 3 (Spring 2014): 393-397.



J. F. Gilliam, “The Plague under Marcus Aurelius,” The American Journal of Philology 82, no. 3 (July 1961): 225-251.



John Haldon, Hugh Elton, Sabine R. Huebner, Adam Izdebski, Lee Mordechai, and Timothy P. Newfield, “Plagues, Climate Change, and the End of an Empire. A Response to Kyle Harper’s The Fate of Rome (2): Plagues and a Crisis of Empire,” History Compass 6, no. 12 (November 2018).



Joseph B. Fullerton and Mark E. Silverman, “Claudius Galen of Pergamum: Authority of Medieval Medicine,” Clinical Cardiology 32, no. 11 (January 2008): E82-E84.



Joseph R. McConnell, Andrew I. Wilson, Andreas Stohl, Monica M. Arienzo, Nathan J. Chellman, Sabine Eckhardt, Elisabeth M. Thompson, A. Mark Pollard, and Jørgen Pender Steffensen, “Lead Pollution Recorded in Greenland Ice Indicates European Emissions Tracked Plagues, Wars, and Imperial Expansion during Antiquity,” PNAS 115, no. 22 (May 2018): 5726-5731.



J. Rufus Fears, “The Plague under Marcus Aurelius and the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Infectious Disease Clinics of North America 18 (2004): 65-77.



Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017), 23-118.



R. J. Littman and M. L. Littman, “Galen and the Antonine Plague,” The American Journal of Philology 94, no. 3 (Autumn 1973): 243-255.



R. P. Duncan-Jones, “The Impact of the Antonine Plague,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 9 (1996): 108-136.



Vivian Nutton, “The Chronology of Galen’s Early Career,” The Classical Quarterly 23, no. 1 (May 1973): 158-171.



Yuki Furuse, Akira Suzuki, and Hitoshi Oshitani, “Origin of Measles Virus: Divergence from Rinderpest Virus between the 11th and 12th Centuries,” Virology Journal 7, no. 52 (March 2010): 1-4.

Catherine Thėves, Eric Crubėzy, and Philippe Biagini, “History of Smallpox and Its Spread in Human Populations,” Microbiology Spectrum 4, no. 4 (April 2015):