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The Antonine Plague with Colin Elliott

Episode 86 - February 10, 2022
Apollo

Colin Elliot (Indiana University)  talks to Merle and Lee about the late second century CE Antonine Plague and the complicated ways to assess its impact in antiquity. He begins by offering the textbook background to the pandemic before turning to discussing the sources we have for the pandemic along with the problems each type of source has. Colin then turns to discuss how this pandemic exacerbated other existing changes to Roman society at the time and how to try to differentiate its effects. At the end, Colin talks to the hosts about the place of Covid in studying ancient pandemics and how his work might be useful for those who work on other pandemics in the premodern world.

Our Guest

Colin Elliot

Associate Professor of History, Indiana University

Colin Elliott