The Antonine Plague of AD 165 to 180, also known as the Plague of Galen (after Galen, the Greek physician who described it), was a prolonged and destructive epidemic,[1] which impacted the Roman Empire. It was possibly contracted and spread by soldiers who were returning from campaign in the Near East. Scholars generally believe the plague was smallpox,[1][2][3] although measles has also been suggested,[4][5][6][7] and recent genetic evidence strongly suggests that the most severe form of smallpox only arose in Europe much later.[8] In AD 169 the plague may have claimed the life of the Roman emperorLucius Verus, who was co-regnant with Marcus Aurelius. These two emperors had risen to the throne by virtue of being adopted by the previous emperor, Antoninus Pius, and as a result, their family name, Antoninus, has become associated with the pandemic.
Ancient sources agree that the plague is likely to have appeared during the Roman siege of the Mesopotamian city of Seleucia in the winter of 165–166, during the Parthiancampaign of Lucius Verus.[9]Ammianus Marcellinus reported that the plague spread to Gaul and to the legions along the Rhine. Eutropius stated that a large proportion of the empire's population died from this outbreak.[10] According to the contemporary Roman historian Cassius Dio, the disease broke out again 9 years later in 189 AD and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day in the city of Rome, 25% of those who were affected.[11] The total death count has been estimated at 5–10 million, roughly 10% of the population of the empire.[12][13] The disease was particularly deadly in the cities and in the Roman army.[14]
^"There is not enough evidence satisfactorily to identify the disease or diseases", concluded J. F. Gilliam in his summary (1961) of the written sources, with inconclusive Greek and Latin inscriptions, two groups of papyri and coinage.
^Dio Cassius, LXXII 14.3–4; his book that would cover the plague under Marcus Aurelius is missing; the later outburst was the greatest of which the historian had knowledge.
^Smith, Christine A. (1996). "Plague in the Ancient World". The Student Historical Journal. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2008.