PolledHistory: 25 Aug - 1 Sep - The Antonine Plague

 Hello! After a week of polling, our result is the Antonine Plague with 4 out of the seven votes in all. 

165 AD, in the Roman Empire under the competent emperor Marcus Aurelius. Soldiers from the land of Seleucia has gone back home to the empire. These soldiers have caught a disease that would plague the world - the Roman Empire and other portions of the Western World for more than a decade.

The disease is currently guessed to be a case of smallpox, caused by viruses. Currently, the Variola virus, the virus responsible for the disease, has been eradicated and trapped into laboratories. But back then, there was not as advanced healthcare technology.

Two thousand Romans every day died because of the plague, and roughly ten million people died, with a shocking twenty five percent fatality rate if you get it. Covid-19, the latest large pandemic of today that locked us into our homes for a few years, has a three percent fatality rate. 

The Roman physician Galen, one of the most important ancient physicians, described its symptoms, which were akin to the ones of smallpox, and he thought that it was caused by bad air, or "miasma". Physicians up until the 1800s also blamed many other diseases to miasma, such as cholera. 

Marcus Aurelius, the emperor at the time, was not idle in fighting the disease. He initiated public health measures, such as distancing. He also tried to fix the gaps caused by the disease - such as economic instabillity and military deterioration. 

Finally, the plague ended after fifteen years of devastation because people gradually gained immunity, and it faded from history. It greatly contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire after Marcus Aurelius' death. 

And that was the Antonine Plague: summarized! The form below is the vote for next week.

Topic: Historical Leaders

https://forms.gle/622hwC8UD7x3Juhy7

Why did I choose this topic?

Though the History blog has covered many other historical topics, we have not covered individuals yet. This is an attempt to finally cover separate people and their achievements and life.

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