Abstract
Junctions: Graduate Journal of the Humanities is an interdisciplinary, peer reviewed and open access journal in the Humanities. The journal aims to connect the different disciplines of the Humanities by collecting disciplinary and interdisciplinary texts so that they are accessible to readers from across the Humanities. Junctions provides scholars at the start of their academic careers with the opportunity to disseminate their research to a diverse audience of peers and professionals, as well as providing graduate students with relevant practical experience of organizing and maintaining a peer-reviewed open access journal. Through a rigorous double blind peer review process, the journal seeks to maintain the highest academic standards possible. Check out our new promo video here.
Highlights
This article has aimed to determine whether the Plague of Cyprian acted as a motive for migration in the Roman Empire
I have first set out different types of potential evidence for tracing migration caused by plague events
Based on the individual tale of Galen’s escape, it cannot be argued that migration was a common response to epidemics in the Roman Empire
Summary
This trial, that the bowels, relaxed into a constant flux, discharge the bodily strength; that a fire originated in the marrow ferments into wounds of the fauces; that the intestines are shaken with a continual vomiting; that the eyes are on fire with the injected blood; that in some cases the feet or some parts of the limbs are taken off by the contagion of diseased putrefaction; that from the weakness arising by the maiming and loss of the body, either the gait is enfeebled, or the hearing is obstructed, or the sight darkened; – is profitable as a proof of faith. (Cypr., De mort., 14, transl. Hannan 1933). This paper must weigh the available evidence carefully This is especially difficult because the third century is known as one of the most poorly documented phases of Roman history (Harper 2016a, 473); the lack of written sources, causes certain aspects of the context of the plague to be speculative. I will discuss the available sources and determine whether the different types of evidence (archaeological, epigraphic, and literary) are helpful in resolving the main issue of this study—or parts thereof At this stage, the primary textual sources are searched for direct references to migration caused by the Plague of Cyprian. In order to arrive at conclusions, the extent to which the Plague of Cyprian acted as a motive for indirect migration in the Roman Empire will be determined through an analysis of both primary textual sources and secondary literature. The Plague of Cyprian has left behind a body of literary evidence that in sheer volume exceeds the primary literature on the better studied Antonine Plague (Harper 2016a, 473; Harper 2016b, 806), caused more economical damage than both the Antonine and the Justinianic Plague, and had a higher mortality rate than the Antonine pandemic (Harper 2017, 18; Littman & Littman 1973, 243). Harper (2015, 223) effectively calls the Plague of Cyprian ‘the forgotten pandemic.’
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