An infectious disease went from one population center to another. Hordes of people died as leaders tried to recover from public and economic health. This is not about Covid-19. Instead, it’s about the ancient Roman Empire, where a disease known as the Antonine Plague spread from Egypt to continental Europe and the British Isles. We don’t have accurate data about the Antonine Plague, but written accounts from that time point to huge amounts of deaths. It was not the first disease, but it was probably the first pandemic.
The Antonine Plague and other epidemics and pandemics that came before the 20th century, vaccines, and medical knowledge hold lessons, but not answers for COVID-19. One lesson is important: Societies can’t avoid outbreaks, but they can withstand severe pandemics. Past political systems have found ways to come back from mass illness and large numbers of deaths.
The Antonine Plague struck in the late 160s. Though millions of people died, the empire was big, so it left about -90 percent of the empire’s population still alive. Reorganization and sharing were required to fix food shortages and an economic decline from the pandemic. The leaders’ wealth and knowledge helped Romans to improve conditions in the empire’s provinces, and governments were given greater power to solve local issues. There are other pandemics and epidemics that teach us lessons too.
The last thing to know is to not forget what happened because another outbreak will probably arrive when it is least expected. The influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, which killed about 50 million people worldwide, was soon forgotten by many people. Scientists have warned for the last 20 years that new pandemics and epidemics were likely to happen. Yet the United States and other countries were completely unprepared for COVID-19.