The Week UK - 04.04.2020

The last word^49

4April 2020 THE WEEK

Ahorrible history of ancient plagues

Twoofthegreatcivilisationsoftheclassicalworldwerebroughttotheirkneesbyforeignpathogens,writesTomHolland

Attimesofgreatcrisis,itis
naturaltolooktothepast
forprecedents.Boris
Johnson,toadegree
unusualamongtoday’s
politicians,hasaframeof
referencethatreachesback
beyondSars,theSpanish
flu,eventheBlackDeath.In
thewarmafterglowofhis
generalelectionvictory,he
doubtlesshadfonddreams
ofusheringBritainintoa
goldenage.Hisgreathero
Pericles(below),anaristo-
craticAthenianwithan
exoticsexlifeandagenius
forgettingtheworkingman
tovoteforhim,provided
theobviousrolemodel.It
wasunderPericlesthat
Athensbuilt theParthenon,
foughtthe Spartansandfashionedanempire.Yetinthe end,
everythinghehadlabouredtoachieve camecrashingdown.
Athenswasoverwhelmed byaplaguethat wipedoutathird ofits
population–upto100,000 people –andPericleshimself.

Thevariouswaves ofinfectious diseasethatstruckthe classical
worldare thestuffofdystopiansciencefiction,closer to28 Days
LaterthanourexperienceofCovid-19. Tothat degree,they
providecomfort, inourcurrentdarkdays,that humanityhas
sufferedworse andsurvived.Thestory isnot,however,entirely
areassuringone. Theplague
thatkilled Periclescameto
Athens alongitsshipping
lanes.For months,rumours
hadcirculatedofthedevasta-
tionithadbroughtto distant
lands: Ethiopia,Egypt, Persia.
Unsurpr isingly,whenit arrived in 430 BC, thefirst cases werein
theharbour. Itdidnottakelong,however, forit toengulfthe
city.Doctorsfound themselveshelpless.“Indeed,”the historian
Thucydideswrote, “theyweretheoneswho sufferedthe highest
mortalityrate ofall.”It ishardtobelievethe awarenessofthis
does notsometimesfalllike ashadowacrossthePM’sthoughts.

The plagueofAthens served as thevery arch etypeofanepidemic.
Then as now, germstend togo wherever goods go.Athens,the
centre ofagreat empire, its harbours packedwithships from
acro ss theGreek andPersian worlds, wasanearly exemplarof
globalisation. Its wealth providedadazzling illustration of the
potential rewards. Buttheimmolationof it scitizens by disease,
“theswooping-down of the fever-god”,asS ophoclesputit,
demonstrated as well just howlethal thecostsmightbe.
Sparta,the dour andxenophobic city thathadalready
beenatwar with Athensfor an entireyear that summer
of 430,prov ided atellingcontrast. There maynothave
been an equivalent ofthe Parthenon inSparta, but
neit herwas there any plague. And intheend,itw as the
Spartans whowon th ewar.

Thucydides, whose accountoft he suffering of those wh
contracted theplague –fever,sores, dementia, blindness
was foundedonperso nalobservation,also anal ysed wit
the eye ofapathologistthesymptoms displayedby the
cityasawhole. The plague, by disruptingwhat Athenia
regardedas normality, disrupted aswell thebonds

holdingsociety together.

“Itwastothe plaguethat

Athensoweditscollapse

intoanunprecedented

conditionoflawlessness,”

he wrote.

Today’s doctorsmaynot

have avaccinewithwhich

to combatthecoronavirus,

butat least,unlikethe

doctorsofPericleanAthens,

theyknow what avaccine

is.Eventhough global-

isationhascaused Covid-19

to spreadaroundthe world

at greatspeed,ithasalso–

byincreasingwealthand

thereforehealth–made

most ofusbetter ableto

withstand itsonset.In

antiquity,bycontrast,

globalisationwasinvariablycalamitousforhealth–somethi ng

even more evidentfromthehistoryofthe Roman world.Cities

such asRomeandAlexandriaat that time didnotjust teemwith

people drawnfromacross the Mediterranean,butstood atthe

intersection oftwo ofthemosttoxiccradles ofpathogens:central

AfricaandcentralAsia.Sureenough,inthe thirdcenturyAD,

aplaguethatseemslikelyto havebeencausedbyavirus akinto

Ebolabroughtagreat scythe totheempire.Bowelsmeltedintoa

sludgy mess;bloodoozedfrom the eyes;feetrotted away. Amid

thecarnage ofthisterrifyingplague,theRomanworldcollapsed

intoanarchy.

Eventhoughit managed

torecover,theempire was

profoundlyaltered.By thesixth

century,whenYersiniapestis,

abacterium originallyfrom

China,brought theexperience ofepidemicagaintotheRoman

world, Rome itself hadbeenleftashell,andthenewcapital,

Constantinople, ruled anempirehalved insize.Oncemorethere

wasaterriblereaping.Somanycorpsescame tolitterthecitythat

theemperorfeltobliged tohave themdumpedin thesea.Then,

as the watersof the harbourturned intoasoupofdecomposing

flesh,he orderedvastpits dugbeyondthecitywalls.Wi thinthese,

rowsofbodieswere laid and“trodden upon by feet and trampled

like spoilt grapes”. Asin Athens, so nowinConstantinople: a

greatimperial crossroads had fallen victim to itsownsucces s.

“Prudent menare wont to say,”Machiavellionce declared,“that

he whowould fore see what hastobeshouldreflectonwhathas

been,for ever ythingthat happens intheworld at anytimehas a

genuine resemblancetowhat happenedin ancient times.”This

hatislikely to seem,in th e21stcentury, far

siblethan itever didinMachiavelli’sday.

as nothingon the horrors ofancientplagues.

uipped to fightepid emicsinwaysbeyondthe

any AthenianorRoman. Ourcivilisation is not

ke asandcastle beforerepeated waves of disease.

will pass, andmostofuswill pull through. And

day, theancient past holdsupanunsettling

wing howgreat empireswerelaid low

pathogens.

ersion of this a rticleappeared in The Times.

ewspapers2020/NewsLicensing.

“ThewealthofAthenswasdazzling.But

theimmolationofitscitizensbydiseaseshowed

thehighcostsofthecity’ssophistication”

MichaelSweerts’PlagueinanAncientCity(c.1650): aterriblereaping

o

s–

th

ns

genuineresembla

is areflection th

moreimplaus

Covid-19 ha

We areeq

dreamsof

meltinglik

Covid-19w

yet even tod

mirror, sho

by foreignp

Alonger ve

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