Plague of Athens (430 B.C.)

Notable Pandemics

In 430 B.C. an outbreak of a plague and infected Athens. This particular plague infected individuals in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean until approximately 426 B.C. Most of the populations in these areas were infected and resulted in the death of roughly 250,000-300,000 individuals. It was believed to have originated from sub-Saharan Africa and it somehow made its way through Egypt, Libya, and across the Mediterranean Sea. The historian, Thuycdides, left detailed descriptions of the plague in order to aide future generations to identify it if it were to arise again. His description included symptoms of the plague: high fever, extreme thirst, sore throat, vomiting, insomnia redness/inflammation of the eyes, and more. It was noted that many of the individuals suffering from this illness would die 7-9 days after the symptoms arose. Many scientists today are still trying to figure out what disease had struck during this time period, there are many ideas of what it may have been, however scientists believe that it may have actually been the ebola virus.