ancient world is a notoriously difficult task. If the mortality rates were high,
this would support Stark’s claim of the importance of these events. Ancient
writers depict these plagues as severe (e.g., “the worst ever”), but an exam-
ination of accounts of other plagues shows that this was a common rhetor-
ical statement (Gilliam 1961, 249). In general, the scholarship used by Stark
accepts the ancient writers at face value and, like them, paints a dramatic
and perhaps inflated picture of the effect of these epidemics.
Other scholarship is more cautious concerning the severity of these
plagues. In an oft-cited article, J.F. Gilliam provides a thorough summary
and analysis of the ancient evidence for the plague of 165 CE. Gilliam (1961,
247–48) finds that there is no ancient account of the plague which is com-
prehensive, precise, and reliable. Many of the accounts are of dubious
value, and some are probably not relevant. The most striking and sweep-
ing statements about the plague were made in the fourth and fifth centuries
CE, long after the event, and the fame of the plague may be due more to cred-
ulous acceptance of hyperbole than to actual effect (Littman and Littman
1973, 253).
Stark considers but rejects the estimates of Gilliam (1962, 249: 1–2 per
cent) and R.J. Littman and M.L. Littman (1973, 255: 7–10 per cent). Gilliam
(1961, 249) finds that, while the plague likely was severe, infectious diseases
in general were an important factor in the high death rate of the ancient
world. Epidemics were nothing new. The Roman Empire developed and
expanded during a constant succession of pestilence and other calamities.
Hector Avalos (1999, 4) notes, for example, that, in the first and second cen-
turies CE, the Roman Empire was marked by rapid urbanization, population
surges, and increased travel (troops and merchants). These factors con-
tributed to both the growth of Christianity and the increase in infectious
disease.
It is certain that the aforementioned plagues occurred. The question is
whether they provided the dramatic turning points in the Roman Empire’s
history that some ancient writers, and Stark, suggest. If these plagues were
more typical events among the many diseases and calamities of the era,
rather than outstanding examples, then, while they may have contributed
to the growth of Christianity, they may not have played the pivotal role
proposed by Stark. Stark (1996, 3) recognizes that there likely were many
factors involved in Christianity’s success.
Explanatory Capacities
Stark (1996, 74; also pp. 77–82) proposes that paganism (here, as else-
where in Stark, a deliberately broad and loosely defined term—critiqued by
Castelli 1998, 230) offered no satisfactory explanation regarding the cause(s)
“Look How They Love One Another” 215