Plague of Athens

06/24/20 • 35 min

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Plague in the ancient world was nothing unusual. Bouts of illness were common occurrences, but we do have accounts of some exceptional outbreaks: epidemics that brought powerful empires and city-states to their knees. One of the most infamous occurred in 430 BC: the Plague of Athens. Recently I was fortunate enough to interview Alastair Blanshard, a Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland, about this devastating episode in Athenian history.

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Fall of the Western Roman Empire

In the late 4th century and early 5th centuries two massive largely-Germanic confederations arrived on Roman borders, having been uprooted from their homelands by the Huns. These were the Goths and the Vandals. Both peoples would become prime enemies of the Roman Empires in the East and West. Both would sack Rome; both played significant roles in the decline of the Western Roman Empire, inflicting terrible defeats and seizing some of the most lucrative territory in the Western Mediterranean. To talk through this ‘barbarian’ impact on the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, I’m chatting with Peter Heather, Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London and the author of ‘The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians’.