- Jean MacIntosh Turfa with Marshall J. Becker –
Other Brontoscopic predictions warn of “plague but not life-threatening.” Since
this cannot be the bubonic plague (which fi rst appeared in the late Empire), it may be
Brucellosis, Malta- or undulate-fever, acquired from unpasteurized goat’s (or other) milk
(Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín 1998: 192–193; Young and Hall 1998; T-W-Fiennes
1978: 95–96). This is known to have infected Napoleon, and would have been present
in settlements keeping livestock: survivors have compromised health, gastrointestinal
problems and frequent bouts of fever. In the absence of soft tissue it is hard to diagnose in
ancient populations, but Capasso (1999) describes what he believes to be a case in one of
the victims of Herculaneum. Brucellosis is a zoonosis, a disease passed between humans
and animals, often (like today’s swine and bird infl uenzas) because of fi lthy conditions
where humans and livestock live together (for more on possible diseases, see Turfa 2012,
Chapter 6). A major symptom of Brucellosis in livestock is spontaneous abortion: the
origins of the Roman Lupercalia festival might have some association, for the women
in Romulus’ town were miscarrying (Ovid Fasti 2.425–453; Wiseman 1995: 84, 127).
His remedy, naked youths thwacking the women with raw goatskins, seems destined to
spread the disease but it might illustrate the perceived association with goats.
Poliomyelitis and typhoid are also known to have been present in the Mediterranean
world; polio, an immunizing gastrointestinal infection prior to modern sanitation
techniques, was documented in sixth-century bc Italy (Wyatt 1993). Typhoid was
described in the Hippokratic Epidemics I and IV: infection peaks in cold winters and kills
up to 25 percent of patients, but usually spares children (Grmek 1991: 89, 346–350;
Levine 1998; Longrigg 2000).
Malaria may well have been one of the foremost diseases in Roman Italy, with fresh
infections arriving on cargoes of foreign slaves, debilitating many and killing persons
already weakened by other poor conditions. DNA of malaria has been identifi ed in the
Imperial Roman population (see Weiland 2011; Sallares 2002; Scheidel 1996 on Roman
death rates). Malaria has also been suggested as one of the causes of the tragically high
infant mortality rates detected in the colonial Pithekoussan necropolis: many adults
would have developed a tolerance to the strains of their homeland, but the strains of
Plasmodium in the Bay of Naples were completely new (Becker 1995; Becker and Donadio
1992). Many scholars have pointed to cases of anemia as indication of a long-term,
evolutionary response of the population to the threat of malaria, as anemic red blood cells
are not conducive to the infection. Gaspare Baggieri (2005: 707) recognized thalassemia
in a skeleton in the necropolis of Etruscan San Giovenale, and a child buried in the
seventh century bc at Oscan/Etruscan Pontecagnano was diagnosed with the disease due
to a spinal deformity (Fornaciari 1997: 470). If this is correct, it may represent a genetic
response to endemic malaria, implying that Etruscan ancestors had acclimated to the
Italian environment over a period of millennia.
“Healthful leanness?”The Brontoscopic Calendar offers an odd prediction at December 29: “If it thunders, it
signifi es the most healthful leanness for bodies.” While modern readers are familiar with
the benefi ts of being thin, we expect that ancient audiences valued corpulence, if only as
the sign of well-being and freedom from want. A few votive models and fi gurines, however,
do seem to portray slimness – exaggerated for artistic effect – and not as a condition of
ill health (Fig. 47.3). Fine bronze fi gures of gods (Diana) and priests (haruspices) are