Disease played a major role in ancient Greek and Roman civilization, especially in helping to bring them to an end. What were these diseases, and how...

Disease has the power to test civilizations. If a government is strong, it can
withstand the spread of disease. If a government is weak, oftentimes disease exposes these
problems and can lead to drastic decline or change, such as the famous Black Death that
undermined the European feudal system and helped usher Europe into the Early Modern phase of
monarchies and budding nation-states. Disease tests us still, with the rise of spread of Ebola
and many mosquito-born viruses. However, the ancient world also experienced major outbreaks of
disease, and two famous cases help demonstrate this: the plague of
Athens and the Antonine Plague of Rome.

In the 400s BCE, the Athenian city-state was embroiled in war with the Spartan
city-state. As the Spartans and her allies moved north to attack Athens, Athens walled herself
in, connecting the port of Piraeus to the main city. While this was a brilliant military tactic,
as the Spartans relied on a land-based army, General Pericles did not anticipate a...

href="https://www.ancient.eu/Antonine_Plague/">https://www.ancient.eu/Antonine_Plague/
href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/939/the-plague-at-athens-430-427-bce/">https://www.ancient.eu/article/939/the-plague-at-athens-4...