shipwreck with spectator epidemics and society in the ancient world

Epidemics are dramatic, far-reaching events. their impact on society isunpredictable. starting from the meaning of the greek word epidemia,the paper highlights its topographical and social connotation (“stay athome, stay in a city”), from homer to hippocrates. by revisiting some ofthe most impactful epidemic events in ancient greece and rome, someof them well known, it focuses on their social and political consequences,the geographic spread and the medical features, the continuities inthe reaction, and in the astonishment of societies. these events are theathenian so-called plague of 431 bce; the epidemic cough of perinthosas narrated in the hippocratic collection; the antonine plague in romearound 166 ce; the epidemic taking place in china in the same yearsof the antonine plague, suggesting a possible connection between thetwo, at a time when the first direct contacts between the two empireswere established. the notion of contagion is considered. the paper alsobriefly recalls the so-called plague of justinian, whose fateful aftermathhas been often related to the collapse of the roman empire. eventually,a reflection upon the different perceptions of an epidemic can provide uswith some food for thought.