Article ID: CBB349529003

Pandemics in the Ancient Mediterranean World (2023)

unapi

Flemming, Rebecca (Author)


Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Volume: 114
Issue: S1
Pages: S288-S312


Publication Date: 2023
Edition Details: IsisCB Special Issue: Bibliographic Essays on the History of Pandemics
Language: English

This essay outlines the kinds of evidence available (and not available) for studies of ancient Mediterranean pandemics, the scholarship on the subject so far, and some reflections on the relationship between the two. The focus is on the three largescale epidemic episodes that have attracted the most scholarly attention: the “Plague of Athens” in the fifth century BCE; the “Antonine Plague,” which spread across the Roman Empire in the late second century CE; and the “Justinianic Plague,” which first engulfed the Mediterranean in the sixth century CE. All present considerable evidential challenges. There are traditional resources and the rich remains of ancient medical writings, but we also now have at our disposal new archaeological and genetic evidence. The research questions on these pandemics must be expanded beyond asking what disease was implicated and what political and economic impact its Mediterranean outbreaks had, sometimes within quite a restricted geographical area. Interdisciplinary research will be required to answer these wider enquiries fully. All the salient disciplines need to be involved, with due attention to their methodologies, if the field is to move forward and make the most of its resources.

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Article Weldon, Stephen P.; Sankaran, Neeraja (2023) Scholarship in the Time of COVID-19: An Introduction to the IsisCB Special Issue on Pandemics. Isis Bibliography of the History of Science (pp. 1-5). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB349529003/

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Authors & Contributors
Aelianus, Claudius
Shinnar, Shulamit
Imogen Wilkins
Jason Morris
Ricciardetto, Antonio
Merle Eisenberg
Concepts
Pandemics
Bibliographies
Reference works for historians of science
Medicine
Public health
Plague
Time Periods
Ancient
Medieval
20th century
21st century
19th century
Places
Roman Empire
Mediterranean region
Roman Republic
Middle and Near East
Palestine
Spain
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