![]() ![]() Sparta's army was stronger, forcing the Athenians to take refuge behind a series of fortifications called the "long walls" that protected their city. ![]() Many scholars believe that overcrowding caused by the war exacerbated the epidemic. What exactly this epidemic was has long been a source of debate among scientists a number of diseases have been put forward as possibilities, including typhoid fever and Ebola. ![]() The Greek historian Thucydides (460-400 B.C.) wrote that "people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath" (translation by Richard Crawley from the book " The History of the Peloponnesian War (opens in new tab)," London Dent, 1914). Some estimates put the death toll as high as 100,000 people. (Image credit: Shutterstock) (opens in new tab)Īround 430 B.C., not long after a war between Athens and Sparta began, an epidemic ravaged the people of Athens and lasted for five years. The city experienced a five year pandemic around 430 B.C. Remains of the Parthenon, one of the buildings on the acropolis of Athens. ![]()
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