of degenerative conditions or to be killed in accidents or vio-
lence than to succumb to epidemic diseases.
When humans embraced agriculture and herding, they
also embraced cattle, horses, sheep, and other domesticated
or semidomesticated animals that were chronic bearers of
infection. In the wild, herd animals constituted large, con-
centrated populations of a single species—a condition that
allowed numerous bacterial and viral infections to become
endemic. (An endemic disease is one that is more or less per-
manently established in a population or an environment.) Th e
chain of infection would never have stopped. Over time these
animal populations, though they still carried the pathogens
(disease-causing agents), had developed resistance to them.
Th us, even though viral and bacterial infections were prob-
ably rife among wild herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, many
of them provoked only mild symptoms or none at all.
Th e domestication of herd animals brought them and
their endemic infections into close, regular contact with hu-
man populations. Many of the infectious agents, of course,
did not transfer to humans, and some that did transfer caused
only minor eff ects. Others, however, became virulent. One
such disease, brucellosis (also known as contagious abortion),
attacks cattle and swine. In humans, it is known as undulant
fever. Brucellosis is commonly transmitted by direct con-
tact with infected animals or with an environment that has
been contaminated with discharges from infected animals.
Th e initial symptoms in humans are fatigue and headaches,
followed by high fever, chills, drenching sweats, joint pains,
backache, and loss of weight and appetite.
Europeans initially lacked any acquired immunities to
the new invaders and, as a result, suff ered a high number of
deaths from these animal-to-human diseases until human
populations developed immunities. Early farming communi-
ties were also sedentary, meaning that the inhabitants lived in
one place year-round, where they were in close contact with
one another. As a result, a communicable disease was likely to
spread quickly and with devastating eff ect—an eff ect that be-
came even more pronounced as more and more people lived
in villages and towns.
Europeans who came into close contact with the Ro-
man Empire and large Mediterranean populations suff ered
exposure to parasitic disease. Until medieval times the Ger-
manic and Slavic peoples of Europe did not suff er from these
diseases. Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, fi rst ap-
peared in ancient Egypt, Africa, China, and India. It trav-
eled to Greece from Egypt and spread throughout Europe
through military movements. An infectious disease caused
by a bacterium, leprosy spread easily through direct contact,
by inhalation of sputum or nasal discharges, or by indirect
contact with recently contaminated objects. All victims have
nerve damage, and these injuries are responsible for the se-
vere deformities that can result from leprosy.
Malaria, a disease prevalent in tropical and subtropical
climates and transmitted by a particular species of mosquito,
has long been one of the most widely distributed and most
severe illnesses to strike humans. Th e pressure of malaria on
natural selection has made a much greater impact than any
other pathogen on recent human evolution. Natural selection
has favored the spread in many human populations of hun-
dreds of genetic mutations that appear to give varying degrees
of resistance to malaria. Ancient Europeans who lived in the
warm, swampy areas that malaria-bearing mosquitoes prefer
developed these mutations. Th ey also adopted certain ways of
living that helped them avoid these mosquitoes. For example,
the combination of small settlements and movement to high
elevations in summer served to reduce exposure to malaria.
Even diet played a role. For instance, some European peoples
regularly ate fava beans, which have antimalarial eff ects.
Th ese lifestyle adaptations were largely coincidental, since the
cause of malaria was unknown until modern times, but they
were nevertheless useful.
One form of response to epidemic diseases in late ancient
times may have helped Christianity become established in
Europe. When a serious infectious disease strikes a popula-
tion, normal services oft en break down; some people are too
sick to function, while others are too frightened of becoming
infected to perform their usual tasks. In an epidemic, elemen-
tary nursing, such as cleaning and the provision of water and
food, can usually greatly reduce mortality rates. Pagans had
no religious duty to provide nursing to the sick. In contrast,
Christians considered nursing to be a religious obligation.
Moreover, those who survived with the help of such nurs-
ing were likely to feel gratitude and a sense of solidarity with
those who had saved their lives. Th e eff ect of a disastrous epi-
demic in Europe aft er the advent of Christianity, therefore,
was to strengthen Christian churches at a time when other
institutions were being discredited. Another advantage that
Christians enjoyed was that the teachings of their faith made
life meaningful even amid sudden and surprising death.
Moreover, even the survivors of a deadly epidemic could fi nd
comfort in the notion that their deceased loved ones were in
heaven. Pagans did not receive the same sense of consola-
tion from an aft erlife. As a result, pagan survivors may have
struggled with depression as an aft ereff ect of epidemic dis-
ease. Such emotional upset would have complicated recovery
for individuals and communities.GREECE
BY ALAIN TOUWAIDE
Th e concepts of pandemics (disease aff ecting an entire area
or group of persons) and epidemics (disease aff ecting at the
same time a large number of persons and spreading from one
person to another, as a disease not normally prevalent among
this group) were not theoretically formulated in Greece before
the fi ft h century b.c.e. and the development of medical think-
ing, mainly (but not only) among Hippocratic physicians.
Nevertheless, the existence of diseases aff ecting a large group
of individuals was recognized as early as the development of
Greek mythical and epic literature. In the mythical cycle ofpandemics and epidemics: Greece 825