Show Notes
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!
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Jennifer Manley, "Measles and Ancient Plagues: A Note on New Scientific Evidence," Classical World 107, no. 3 (Spring 2014): 393-397.
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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).
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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.
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Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017), 23-118.
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"Smallpox," CDC, last modified June 7, 2016, https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/transmission/index.html. Vivian Nutton, "The Chronology of Galen's Early Career," The Classical Quarterly 23, no. 1 (May 1973): 158-171.
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