Posted on 07/15/2018 4:42:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Could an ancient children's burial ground contain clues about how one of the world's greatest empires came to an end? Andrew Thompson explores the theory that malaria was the silent killer responsible for the fall of Rome.
Today in the west, most people have forgotten how deadly malaria used to be, although there were serious malarial epidemics in many parts of Italy as recently as the 1950s. But each year, mainly in Africa, it still kills over two million people, most of them children. While there are several mentions of a disease sounding very similar to malaria in historical documents from Roman times, there has never been any hard evidence of its presence.
But last year, for the first time, a British scientist proved conclusively that the most dangerous type of malaria was a killer in imperial Rome. The scientist relied on the latest DNA techniques that are revolutionising the understanding of the role of disease in ancient times. The malarial DNA from a Roman site, dating from around AD 450, is the oldest definite evidence of malaria in history. The finding of malaria was a remarkable and complicated piece of detective work, which spanned the last ten years...
David Soren is the American archaeologist behind the new theory that malaria played a key part. He is an expert on Roman antiquity, having dug at several sites in the Mediterranean area. Ten years ago he was invited to a beautiful hill town called Lugnano (just north of Rome) by local archaeologists. They wanted Soren to help them excavate the remains of a Roman villa outside the town.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I really like the Byzantine Empire.
A striking thing about its history is how important one man, the emperor, was (like Trump today, which is scary to be so dependent on one man!).
In 1025 at the death of the great emperor Basil II, the empire was at a peak of power, but only 46 years later, after a string of bad emperors, it suffered the crushing defeat of Manzikert and lost most of Anatolia.
Then three good Comneni emperors in the 12th century restored a lot of the empire’s lost power, though not as much as under Basil II, and half of Anatolia still under the Turks.
I also think some of the fluctuations in the empire’s condition was due to fluctuations in population and the health of the population, perhaps due to long-term weather fluctuations and plagues, but I haven’t studied it enough to be able to document it.
I think it is almost certain that the plague which struck Athens was the main reason for it’s defeat in the Peloponnesian war.
Thucydides who survived the plague wrote a detailed account of it’s symptoms. It does not perfectly fit any known illness tho modern historians think it was?
Darn, I have a brain freeze and can’t recall what it is.
Yeah, I think it was typhus, which is a common problem when 100s of 1000s of people are crowded behind a wall. During the off season, Athens should have been training its entire population in archery and/or javelin. There wouldn't have been a living cornholer from Sparta left to make an attack.
Rome wasn't the imperial capital during the various sackings by Visigoths and Vandals.
the silver denarius was a problem, as it was the common coin. It was adulterated down to pretty much zero silver content at one point.
From wikipedia FWIW
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_currency
Although the denarius remained the backbone of the Roman economy from its introduction in 211 BC until it ceased to be normally minted in the middle of the third century, the purity and weight of the coin slowly, but inexorably, decreased. The problem of debasement in the Roman economy appears to be pervasive, although the severity of the debasement often paralleled the strength or weakness of the Empire. While it is not clear why debasement was such a common occurrence for the Romans, it’s believed that it was caused by several factors, including a lack of precious metals and inadequacies in state finances. When introduced, the denarius contained nearly pure silver at a theoretical weight of approximately 4.5 grams.
The theoretical standard, although not usually met in practice, remained fairly stable throughout the Republic, with the notable exception of times of war. The large number of coins required to raise an army and pay for supplies often necessitated the debasement of the coinage. An example of this is the denarii that were struck by Mark Antony to pay his army during his battles against Octavian. These coins, slightly smaller in diameter than a normal denarius, were made of noticeably debased silver. The obverse features a galley and the name Antony, while the reverse features the name of the particular legion that each issue was intended for (it is interesting to note that hoard evidence shows that these coins remained in circulation over 200 years after they were minted, due to their lower silver content). The coinage of the Julio-Claudians remained stable at 4 grams of silver, until the debasement of Nero in 64, when the silver content was reduced to 3.8 grams, perhaps due to the cost of rebuilding the city after fire consumed a considerable portion of Rome.
The denarius continued to decline slowly in purity, with a notable reduction instituted by Septimius Severus. This was followed by the introduction of a double denarius piece, differentiated from the denarius by the radiate crown worn by the emperor. The coin is commonly called the antoninianus by numismatists after the emperor Caracalla, who introduced the coin in early in 215. Although nominally valued at two denarii, the antoninianus never contained more than 1.6 times the amount of silver of the denarius. The profit of minting a coin valued at two denarii, but weighing only about one and a half times as much is obvious;
Yes, Typhus was what I was trying to recall.
I still would go with Thucydides since he described it in detail and survived it too.
Two weeks ago on Science Friday, a respected epidemiologist claimed that 50% of all deaths since the Stone Age were caused by Malaria.
Malaria? What about the plague? Plague decimated Rome’s population several times.
Appears that Diocletian moved the capital to impress upon the Senate that they didn’t count anymore. Fun times as the Western Empire headed towards the Dark Ages
The malaria outbreak has been documented by the examination of the remains, as noted in the article. The earliest documented bubonic outbreak in Europe is mid-6th c AD, after the fall of the western empire.
An Empire’s Epidemic (Justinian Plague)
UCLA | 5-6-2002 | Thomas H Maugh II
Posted on 09/18/2006 4:38:39 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1703860/posts
Unusual climate during Roman times plunged Eurasia into hunger and disease
Science News | April 11, 2018 | University of Helsinki
Posted on 04/15/2018 6:41:17 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3647653/posts
Oldest Bubonic Plague Genome Decoded
Eurekalert | June 8, 2018 | Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Posted on 06/11/2018 5:14:12 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3662213/posts
I'd be surprised if that were true, but it (like typhus, typhoid, the measles, smallpox, others) has had the hangtime.
Wow, I hadn't thought about quinine in a loooong time. Good idea, btw.
The Antonine Plague of 165–180 AD - 1/3 of population killed. up to 5 million dead. Possibly small pox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Plague
Setting up the Dole is what killed the Roman Empire....malaria was just bitter icing on the cake.
Most "tropical" diseases have tropical reservoirs, but are fundamentally socio-economic. Malaria has mainly a human reservoir and is therefore almost completely socioeconomic. Malaria was once endemic in N. America up to the Arctic. The reason we have no more malaria is wealth. DDT is hardly a cure-all, people give it way too much credit. It is good for general mosquito control, but the secret to eliminating malaria and many other transmittable diseases is a high quality disease monitoring system (from high quality health care), isolation of victims, elimination of specific populations of mosquitoes (lots of DDT alternatives for that) and other first world factors.
The third world pimps like to blame the "tropical" diseases for their predicament. But the problem is socialism, authoritarianism, etc.
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