The Roman Empire faced a pandemic from about AD 249 to 262, or possibly extending to 270. Historians debate the exact start date and geographical origin of this disease. One theory points to Aethiopia as the source, with evidence suggesting it reached Alexandria at least one year before arriving in Rome. Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria wrote letters indicating the plague erupted around Easter of 249 AD in Egypt. The disease then spread across Europe, reaching Rome by the second half of 251 at the latest. Archaeologists working in Thebes, Egypt uncovered charred human remains that suggest people were burning bodies during the outbreak. This practice likely occurred due to the sheer volume of deaths overwhelming traditional burial methods. A later incident in 270 involved the death of Emperor Claudius II Gothicus, though scholars remain unsure if this was the same plague or a new outbreak. Some accounts mention Scythian armies plundering Crete and Cyprus being stricken with pestilence during that period.
Symptoms And Medical Speculation
Contemporary descriptions detail severe physical symptoms experienced by victims of the disease. Cyprian wrote in his treatise De mortalitate about fever, continuous vomiting, deafness, blindness, diarrhea, and swollen throats. He described conjunctivital bleeding where blood filled the eyes of the sick. Victims also suffered paralysis of the legs and feet, often leading to amputation of limbs due to diseased putrefaction. These symptoms resulted more often than not in the death of the patient. Modern researchers have proposed several potential causes for these specific ailments. William Hardy McNeill suggests the disease may have been smallpox or measles, marking the first transfers from animal hosts to humanity. Kyle Harper argues the symptoms better match a viral hemorrhagic fever like Ebola rather than smallpox. Dionysios Stathakopoulos asserts both the Antonine Plague and the Plague of Cyprian were caused by smallpox. The lack of comprehensive medical records makes definitive identification impossible despite these detailed eyewitness accounts.