HTS Lecture 2: The Case of the Athenian Sickness

The History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides - “There was no previous record of so great a pestilence and destruction of human life”

True or False: Despite the war, it is the height of Athen’s global power and influence in the Classical Age

True

The ______ ______, led by Artaxerxes the 1st, is avoiding entanglement in the Peloponnesian War, waiting for the powerful Greek city-states to destroy each other before he attempts a campaign to conquer them.

Persian Empire

_____ is still a minor republic and mourning the loss of iconic general Cincinnatus.

Rome

The rest of Europe is ruled by decentralized ____ or ____ like the Celts, who settled in the British Isles and modern-day France (then known as Gaul)

bands, tribes

____ is enjoying its last decades of peace under the Zhou dynasty. The _____ ____ period is just around the corner.

China, Warring States

What is happening in Africa during this time?

In Africa, the Green city-states’ wars are generating massive profits through trade, concentrated out of the port of Carthage. Further south, the Kingdom of Kush if flourishing in the Sudan.

Where did the plague first hit?

Piraeus

How did the people of Piraeus assume that the disease started?

“People in Piraeus caught it first, and so, since there were not yet any fountains there, they actually alleged that the Peloponnesians had put poison in the wells.”

Where did the disease travel after Piraeus?

It arrived in the upper city, and then the deaths started to occur on a much larger scale

True or False: Everyone, whether doctor or layman, may say from his own experience