1) Definitions of Plague: An epidemic disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, that

affects humans and other mammals that causes high mortality rates
2) Definition of Pandemic: An epidemic disease that is spread worldwide
3) Definition of Epidemic: Number of cases within a limited geographic area rapidly
increase in a short amount of time

A. The Plague of Athens

a. Dates - 430 - 426 BCE
b. Location - Athens, Greece
c. Origin & Spread - Started in Subsaharan Africa, travelled east through Egypt and
spread to the Mediterranean // Came to Athens through the main port of the city
(Piraeus)
d. Disease Entity - UNKNOWN (We now that it’s not measles because it wasn’t
discovered until 1,000 years ago based on DNA evidence)
e. Symptoms - Fever, redness of the eyes, sore throat, bleeding/bad breath, loss of
voice, vomiting, coughing, pustules/ulcers, insomnia, extreme thirst, diarrhea
f. Historian - Thucydides
g. Historical Accounts/Descriptions - “The catastrophe was so overwhelming that
men...became indifferent to every rule of religion or law”
h. Death Toll - 25% of city’s population (75,000 - 100,000)
i. Social & Economic Impact - Weakened Athens military strength // Lots of
looting & families plotting against families
j. Political Impact - Many people refused to obey civic & religious laws
k. Other Details - Occurred during the Peloponnesian War w/ Sparta
B. The Antonine Plague
a. Dates - 165 - 180 CE
b. Location - Roman Empire
c. Origin & Spread - First appeared in Roman soldiers returning from siege of
Seleucia in Mesopotamia
d. Disease Entity - Probably smallpox
e. Symptoms - Fever, diarrhea, pharyngitis, skin eruptions (pustules)
f. Historian - Galen (Greek physician to Roman Emperors), Cassius Dio
g. Historical Accounts/Descriptions -
h. Death Toll - 5-10 million, particularly impacted Roman army
i. Social & Economic Impact - Towns & villages sometimes had no survivors
j. Political Impact - WEakened the army & eastern defenses of the empire, left the
Empire open to repeated infiltration by Germanic tribes
k. Other Details - During the reign of Marcus Aurelius
C. Plague of Justinian
a. Dates - 541 - 549 CE
b. Location - Mainly Byzantine Empire & Constantinople
 c. Origin & Spread - Probably originated in the modern border areas of Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, and China // First hit Roman Egypt & affected first the
Mediterranean area and then spread to northern Europe as far as the Arabian
Peninsula // Spread to the Near East (Byzantine Empire & Constantinople)
i. Mainly spread by trading & military
d. Disease Entity - Black Plague (Yersinia pestis)(First Pandemic)(First outbreak of
the bubonic plague)
e. Symptoms -
f. Historian - Procopius
g. Historical Accounts/Descriptions -
h. Death Toll - As high as 100 million people
i. Social & Economic Impact - Bodies were left to rot, funerals didn’t take place //
Very likely it would have affected labor, social class, jobs, economy, food harvest
j. Political Impact - Affected Byzantine Empire at a critical time which affected the
course of its history // Justinian was the last emperor to try to reconquer western
Roman territories in Europe and reunite the old Roman empire
k. Other Details - First plague pandemic (first outbreak of bubonic plague) ;
Justinian was the emperor of the Byzantine Empire ; the plague continued to have
outbreaks until the mid 700s
D. The Black Death
a. Dates - Middle Ages (1347-1353)
b. Location - Europe (Started in Italy), also in Asia and Africa
c. Origin & Spread - Came from ships that were docking in Italian ports
i. Probably came from Western Asia
d. Disease Entity - Bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis) (The Second Pandemic of
Bubonic Plague)
e. Symptoms - Fever, fatigue, shivering, vomiting, headaches, giddiness, intolerance
to light, sleeplessness, buboes
f. Historian - Written accounts: Chosser, Boccaci
g. Historical Accounts/Descriptions -
h. Death Toll - Half of the whole population
i. Social & Economic Impact - Economic decline,
j. Political Impact - Antisemitism caught on when people were blaming Jews for the
spread of the Black Death
k. Religious Impact - People thought God was punishing them (flagellants)
l. Cultural Impacts -
m. Psychological Impacts - Mental toll due to heightened loss // preoccupation with
death and the afterlife evinced in poetry, sculpture, and painting; the Roman
Catholic Church lost some of its monopoly over the salvation of souls as people
turned to mysticism and sometimes to excesses.
n. Writers & Literature of the Black Death
 o. Other Details - Seen as the greatest plague in human history due to its death toll,
first plague where people tried quarantine (40 days)

Comparisons between Justinianic Plague & Black Death

● Both were carried by fleas on rats
● Both were caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria

Exam:
● NOT LOCKDOWN BROWSER
● Will be posted on Canvas as an Assignment (will open at 6pm and close at least an hour
and a half later)
● The exam will be in Pages (not a pdf or anything)
● MC, fill in, long answer questions