Posted on 11/29/2007 2:53:57 PM PST by blam
Sick Rams Used as Ancient Bioweapons
Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
Once, a Weapon
Nov. 28, 2007 -- Infected rams and donkeys were the earliest bioweapons, according to a new study which dates the use of biological warfare back more than 3,300 years.
According to a review published in the Journal of Medical Hypotheses, two ancient populations, the Arzawans and the Hittites, engaged "in mutual use of contaminated animals" during the 1320-1318 B.C. Anatolian war.
"The animals were carriers of Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia," author Siro Trevisanato, a molecular biologist based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada told Discovery News.
Also known as "rabbit fever," tularemia is a devastating disease which even today can be fatal, if not treated with antibiotics. Its symptoms range from skin ulcers, swollen and painful lymph glands to pneumonia, fever, chills, progressive weakness and respiratory failure.
The disease affects animals such as rabbits, sheep and donkeys and it is passed on to humans through various routes, most commonly through the bite of infected ticks and deerflies.
First isolated in 1911, Francisella tularensis is highly infectious and is now considered one of the pathogens most likely to be used in bioterrorism attacks.
According to Trevisanato, the bacterium flourished in the Eastern Mediterranean toward the end of the 14th century B.C., when a long-lasting, deadly epidemic plagued most of the Middle East.
Known as the Hittite plague, the epidemic is clearly described in letters to the Egyptian king Akhenaten. A letter, dating around 1335 B.C., reports a pestilence in Simyra, a city near today’s border between Lebanon and Syria.
Despite efforts to contain the epidemic -- donkeys were banned from being used in caravans -- the disease contaminated an area stretching from Cyprus to Iraq and from Israel to Syria. Subsequently, wars spread the epidemic to central and Western Anatolia. Finally, Aegean soldiers fighting in western Anatolia returned home to their islands, further spreading the epidemic.
"A disease lasting 35-40 years, infecting humans and animals, causing fever, disabilities, and death, spreading via rodents aboard ships as well as donkeys, points to Francisella tularensis. Moreover, there is evidence that tularemia can be traced as far back as 2500 B.C. in the same area, implying that the region was endemic for the bacterium," Trevisanato said.
According to the researcher, the Hittites, whose empire stretched from modern-day Turkey to northern Syria, were severely hit by the disease after they attacked a weakened area around Simyra.
"The booty and prisoners of war left a contaminated trail," Trevisanato said.
Indeed, the plague spread in the Hittites homeland, and two kings died from it within a few years.
The weakened Hittite empire attracted the Arzawans from Western Anatolia and a new war, which lasted between 1320 and 1318 B.C., began. It was at this point that the Hittites used disease-ridden rams and donkeys with the purpose of infecting the enemy.
Records indicate that rams mysteriously began populating the roads in Arzawa. According to Trevisanato, they were sent off by the Hittites, who realized that the animals were involved with spreading the disease.
"The Hittites were weak when the Arzawans attacked them, yet they smashed the enemy within two years. Which kind of secret weapon did they know of to do this Bronze Age blitzkrieg, given their weakened troops and political mess?" posed Trevisanato.
To support the bioweapon theory, tablets dating to the 14-13th century B.C., describe how a ram and a woman attending the animal were sent on the road, spreading the disease along the way.
"The country that finds them shall take over this evil pestilence," the tablet said.
The practice was soon understood by the Arzawans who also reacted by sending their own infected rams on the road in the direction of the enemy troops.
"I agree that infected rams or donkeys driven into enemy territory by the Hittites may well have been the earliest documented biological weapon in the Near East," classical folklorist Adrienne Mayor, the author of "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Weapons in the Ancient World," told Discovery News.
"Even older evidence for ancient understanding of contagion comes from Sumer (modern Syria). Archaeologists have found several royal letters on cuneiform tablets from the archives of Mari, a town on the Euphrates River.
The letters, dating to 1770 B.C., forbid people from plague-ridden towns to travel to healthy towns, and warn people not to touch or use the personal belongings of infected victims," Mayor said.
Yeah. “Everything’s big in Texas...”
Glad your boy made a good recovery. That must have been heartwrenching for your family.
Robert A. Heinlein mentioned in one of his survival-based fiction stories on the importantance of recognizing Tularemia in any rabbits you killed. (Not that you were hunting rabbits that day.) He was talking about how back-to-nature survival wasn't as easy as us modern-day city folk imagined it to be.
Thank you very much. All is well. Well, I guess the 50k left uncovered kinda sucks, but, it was unfortunately timed with the short (6 week) period during which I was on [relatively crappy] health insurance via a consulting agency. Small price to pay, really.
Have to say, though, that as nasty and rare as it was, the one thing we (as a family) got out of the experience was realizing just how lucky we were to have something at least treatable. My son met more than one kid at that childrens' hospital that will probably never go home.
Robert A. Heinlein mentioned in one of his survival-based fiction stories on the importantance of recognizing Tularemia in any rabbits you killed. (Not that you were hunting rabbits that day.) He was talking about how back-to-nature survival wasn't as easy as us modern-day city folk imagined it to be.
Heh...yeah...in talking about the malady with friends and family, none had ever heard of it.
Lo and behold, while engaging on some "team speak" with fellow players of an online game I enjoy, I mentioned it. One dude knew it right off - and actually told me quite a bit about it that I didn't know. Turns out he is a survival enthusiast/instructor. I'd wager he read the books to which you referred. Fascinating dude.
I thought this was about the St. Louis Rams
I’m not sold on this biowarfare article, looks like anachronistic political pandering. I’d previously read a claim that bubonic-infected rats were tossed over the wall using catapaults during some siege in ancient times, but A) AFAIK there’s no ancient descriptions of a bubonic plague outbreak, and B) while there’s no reason to doubt the observational capacity of earlier human societies, infections and disease were (according to documentation) attributed to demons and deities.
:’) In this case, the storm god? :’D
http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-35872/Arnuwandas-III
A selection of articles discussing this topic.
conquest of Arzawa
...During the reign of the Hittite king Arnuwandas III (1220–1190 BC), Arzawa was seized by a disloyal Hittite vassal, Madduwattas; it was never recaptured by the Hittites and gradually lost its political identity.
succession of Mursilis II
Son of the great Hittite conqueror Suppiluliumas, Mursilis succeeded his father after the brief reign of his older brother Arnuwandas III. Mursilis renewed the allegiance of North Syria, particularly Carchemish (controlled by his brother Shar-Kushukh) and the kingdom of Amurru; he also conducted a successful campaign against the western kingdom of Arzawa, one of the main threats to the Hittite...
history of Hittite kingdom
Little is known about Arnuwandas III and Suppiluliumas II, who succeeded Tudhaliyas, and these final episodes in the saga of Hittite history are difficult to reconstruct. To the latter reign can be dated a maritime expedition, perhaps involving Cyprus, and the earliest Hieroglyphic Hittite inscriptions of any length. The Phrygian invasion of Asia Minor must already...
Only thing I remember about hunting rabbits was my dad would inspect the liver - very closely.
If it looked funky in any way, I got the job of burying it - not even the dogs could have it.
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