The Major Pandemics thru History

The Plague of Athens was an epidemic that devastated the city of Athens during the second year of the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC. The plague returned twice more and killed 25% of the Athenian population. The epidemic caused a massive migration from the Attic countryside into the city and resulted into an overpopulation. Due to the close quarters and poor hygiene, Athens proper became a breeding ground for the Plague and many citizens died, including the statesman  Pericles, Aspasia his wife, and his two sons.  

Some 30 pathogens have been implicated as having caused the plague but the most likely microbe according to Professor Durack of the University of Maryland was due to Rickettsial bacteria that can cause three different varieties of the disease we call typhus. According to historian Thucydides, the Athenian Plague came from Africa, Ebola and other hemorrhagic fever diseases are other distinct possibilities. (The Plague of Athens, paintng of Michiel Sweets c 1652-1654) 

In the year 541 AD, the Justinian Plague, spread thru most of the Byzantine Empire, and Western Europe including England and Ireland.  The pandemic that reappear several times until 750 AD resulted in the death of 25 to 100 million people a toll that represented 50% of Europe’s population in the first outbreak.  In 2013, researchers confirmed that the cause of the Justinian Plague was Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium responsible for the Black Death. 

The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence, the Great Bubonic Plague or the Plague, was the most devastating pandemic recorded in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 200 million people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. The bacterium Yersinia Pestis which is known to cause several forms of the Plague such as the bubonic which is the most common, the pneumonic and others, is believed to have been the cause. 

The Black Death probably originated in Central Asia and via the Silk Road reached Crimea by 1343. From there, it was likely carried by the fleas living on rats that traveled on Genoese  merchant ships, spreading the Black Death throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and reaching the rest of Europe via the Italian Peninsula.  The plague arrived in Europe in October 1347, on 12 ships that docked at the port of Messina. People at the docks were met with a horrifying surprise: Most sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils that oozed blood and pus.  

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population.  In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 475 million to 375 million in the 14th century. It took 200 years for Europe's population to recover to its previous level.  There were three more outbreaks of the plague in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries that claimed an additional 15 million lives.  

The arrival of European conquerors and later immigrants into the Americas introduced new diseases to the indigenous populations who had no immunity to them.  As early as 1492 and later in 1836 through 1840 smallpox epidemics occurred.  Smallpox reached its height after the spring of 1837 when the steamboat, S.S. St. Peter, carried infected people and supplies into the Missouri Valley.  The death toll during the epidemic was approximately 17,000 people.  In the span of two years the Mandan Indian tribe was totally decimated.  During the epidemic white settlers and the army allegedly facilitated the spread of smallpox among unsuspecting Native Americans by giving them blankets that smallpox patients had used.  Although not scientifically documented it is likely one of the many genocides in human history. 

The Spanish flu an unusually deadly influenza pandemic lasted from January 1918 to December 1920.  It infected 500 million people—about a quarter of the world's population at the time and its death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million.  WWI military censorship minimised reports of deaths among populations of waring nations while they were free to report from neutral Spain thus their stories created the false impression that Spain was the place the flu originated from and giving rise to the pandemic’s nickname Spanish flu.  A recent paper describes that the cities which were mostly affected by the flu experienced an economic decline with an 18% reduction of their economic output.  They authors suggest that the cities which intervened earlier and aggressively grew faster after the pandemic was over. 
(Soldiers with Spanish flu at hospital ward at Camp Funston)

Since its beginning in December 2019 in Wuhan city, in Hubei province of China, nearly 860,000 cases and 42,000 deaths due to Corona virus have been reported worldwide.  During this period, confirmed cases in select countries, are as listed in round numbers; US 190,000, Italy 105,000, China 82,000, Germany 71,000, France 52,000, Sweden 4,500, Greece 1,300, S. Korea 9,900 and Japan 2,000.  For those who are interested in a more detailed analysis please check the link Radiology Monthly but briefly as of today the death per million in the USA is 12, Italy’s is off the scale at 200, Germany’s is 10, Sweden’s is 18, Greece’s is 5, S. Korea’s is 3 and Japan’s is 0.5 which is remarkably low.  Most of the countries have instituted lockdowns, the Swedes and the Japanese are using social distancing and have not changed their way of living comparing to that before the pandemic. The Koreans and the Singaporeans are doing extensive testing.  The Taiwanese are advising hygienic measures with excellent results.  Those interested in more information about pandemics of the past two millennia please consult the following link.

Delos the Sacred Island

The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος), is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece.  The island's original inhabitants in the 3^rd millennium BC were mostly pirates that were defeated by King Minos who wished to create safe passage for ships and thus establish a trade zone having Crete as its center.

(painting by Carl Rottman)

By the time of the Odyssey the island was already famous as the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis.  According to he legend their mother Leto chose Delos to give birth as it was a moving island thus she was able to escape the ire of Hera.  Leto bore Artemis first who acted as a midwife and assisted Leto in the delivery of her brother Apollo that took place between an olive tree and a palm tree.

The Delian League, an association of 150-176 Greek city-states, under the leadership of Athens was created for the purpose to continue the fight against the Persians. After the Greek victory at Byzantion, Sparta was eager to end its involvement in the war.  In the aftermath of Mycale, the Spartan king Leotychides had proposed transplanting all the Greeks from Asia Minor back to Greece as the only method of permanently freeing them from the Persian danger.  Xanthippus, the Athenian commander at Mycale, had furiously rejected this; as the Ionian cities were originally Athenian colonies, and the Athenians, if no-one else, would protect the Ionians.  This marked the point at which the leadership of the Greek alliance effectively passed to the Athenians.  With the withdrawal of Sparta and its allies, a congress was called on the holy island of Delos to institute a new alliance to continue the fight against the Persians; hence the designation "Delian League". According to Thucydides, the official aim of the League was to "avenge the wrongs they suffered by ravaging the territory of the king."  In reality, this goal was divided into three main efforts— to prepare for future invasion, to seek revenge against Persia, and to organize a means of dividing spoils of war. The members were given a choice of either offering armed forces or paying a tax to the joint treasury.  League members swore to have the same friends and enemies, and dropped ingots of iron into the sea to symbolize the permanence of their alliance. The League's meeting place was the island of Delos, where congresses were held in the temple and where the common treasury was until Pericles moved it to Athens in 454 BC.  Shortly after its inception, Athens began to use the League's navy for its own purposes. This behavior frequently led to conflict between Athens and the less powerful members of the League. By 431 BC, Athens' heavy-handed control of the Delian League prompted the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War; the League was dissolved upon the war's conclusion in 404 BC.

The Terrace of the Lions was dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BC, had originally nine to twelve squatting, snarling marble guardian lions along the Sacred Way.

The area between the theatre and the site at Mount Kynthos where Apollo and Artemis were born was considered holy and temples were erected for Greek and Foreign Gods.  The temple of Isis and those dedicated to Phoenician Gods signify that all of the Eastern Mediterranean Gods were worshipped at Delos.  The Temple of Isis was built during the Roman period to venerate the trinity of Isis, Serapis and Anubis.

The theatre at Delos was built in 280 BC and had a capacity for 5500 people.  Initially, performances were of religious nature but starting at 150 DC regular plays were staged.

Characteristic of the Delian houses was the room used to receive guests.  It was richly decorated with mosaics such as the dolphins in the picture.

The house of Cleoparta is below the theatre and was built by a loving woman after the death of Dioskourides, the man she loved.  The name Cleopatra means “glory of her father” in Greek.  It maybe serendipity but the bearers of the name in addition to paternal love they were passionately loved by the men who were romantically attached to.