In The Fate of Rome we are given a testimony about the plague that swept through ancient Rome. What I found interesting is that Aristides already had a sense of how diseases spread from person to person. The passage in chapter 3 mentions how somebody "infected nearly all of my neighbors", which indicates that people started to figure out that disease spread through close contact. Another thing I found interesting is how Aristides believed the epidemic had religious connotations connected to it. He believed his life was spared at the cost of a young boy, which led Aristides to become a devout follower of Apollo. Modern science today has traced the origins of the plague from parasites that inhabited the lands near cities. Many Roman citizens contracted malaria and smallpox from these parasites.
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In the reading from Areluis Aristides the author give a detailed account of his plague experience. He describes the way he felt from day to day and even some of the lasting effects years later. The most fascinating part of this reading in the authors belief that the fever dreams he is having while ill are some kind of instructions from a god.
These dreams lead him to avoid bathing and fasting for days. He even sends a doctor away because of these dreams and his belief that this god is the best doctor. It is very interesting to compare his experience with a pandemic to our own. His is really quite similar in the way that there is not much man can do for these illnesses other than wait them out and do anything that makes them feel better. However, in this case the author seems strangely content with his illness. He is clearly not enjoying it, but I think there is a part of him that is fascinated by it and enjoys documenting and discussing what is happening to him. It’s like he is doing research through his own experience. I think that’s why he kept such a detailed account. Most people would nearly want to survive and once they did they would rather forget it ever happened.
Rome is portrayed as a sprawling and indestructible- but it is not often that we consider the diseases that ravaged the citizens. Kyle Harper states that the average life span of Roman adults was only mid twenties to early thirties. Most of the stories we have about great Romans are about the rulers and upper class citizens who were lucky enough to escape death for an extended period of time (Augustus for example). It's scary to think about tiny roman children having their mid life crisis at 15! It reminded me a lot about how today a lot of parents are against vaccinations for themselves and their children and some people turning to homeopathic healing rather than modern medicine. Some evidence I have heard that supports homeopathy is that they used to use it in the ancient times- but look how well that worked for them Karen! I think people in our modern society take for granted how lucky we are to have all the resources we do, because without modern medicine we would be graduating college and then going straight into the grave. I've heard stories about people who denied cancer treatment to try and heal naturally- and then they die within a couple of weeks- for no reason other than they think that somehow they will evade a painful death that millions of others have succumbed to. The Greeks and Romans were the ones experimenting in hopes that things would turn out okay as far as medicine goes (i.e. homeopathic medicines, essential oils, etc.) but we aren't! Vaccines and modern medicines undergo extensive research and are proven to help, so why would people turn to rubbing oils on themselves instead of getting proper treatment? It baffles me.
As concerning as the reading was of Sacred Texts 47-48, this just shows the toxicity of religion is especially when it comes to pandemics. In order to be able to do well in a pandemic, we must be in great health, wear a mask when necessary, and stay away from other people. Aelius did not do any of these at all, infact he was doing the exact opposite.
Instead of being in good health, he would refuse to take any medication, be loyal to his faith, and throw himself up. And this just only shows how bad and unhealthy his faith is to god. This kind of reminds me of a video, I watched from Orange Beach where news workers were asking people, why are you not wearing a mask, and they all said that they would be happy to die with the virus because that would mean god said it is their time to go. They dont even bother to take the necessary steps in keeping the pandemic under control. Even tho this was years upon years ago, we can connect those pieces of the story with what we are facing now.
In Harper's text, he discusses exotic animals from areas of the Roman Empire, like lions, bears, etc, were brought into the confined arena and killed, and he goes on to say that this was Rome's way of showing their power over earth and nature. Later on, he mentions how these are acts of self-deception and made the Romans over-confident in their ability to tame nature. I think this is very true. They took animals out of their natural environment, put them in an enclosed area, and put them up against humans with weapons. It's not a fair fight. It is set up for the humans to win. I also enjoyed the section where he discussed the natural forces that played a role in the downfall of Rome. I like the irony in the way Harper discussed it as he said the fall of Rome was the triumph of nature over human ambitions. He acknowledges the roles of humans and their interactions with each other, but also he comments on how bacteria, viruses, volcanoes, and solar cycles also aided in the fall of the Roman Empire. I also thought the connection between the Roman Empire and disease ecology was interesting. I never really thought about where that started.
Aelius Aristides' work was funny to me. I know that was not his goal, but reading it now, his story of stomach pain and the setup of the beginning of 47 made me chuckle. He begins by discussing his devotion to God and how he's so devoted it's hard to put into words. Then in the very next paragraph, he's like ok let's talk about my upset stomach and how I can't sleep at night. I know he goes on to explain it with his visions, but reading it now, it just seems funny. I also thought the bathing situation seemed silly. He didn't bathe for three days and felt great, but then he had a dream he got dirty so when he woke up he took a bath. After he took that bath he felt bad again. He had the dream where his right knee was bruised, and when he woke up, he had a small sore on his right knee that seemed to help his upset stomach. It is interesting that something that seems so silly can be used as proof of visions from God.
Like everyone else, I found this story of the plagues and pandemics that hit the Roman Empire to be incredibly timely and haunting. I have never thought about the fact that diseases like this were so easily widespread between communities at the time because of dense populations, direct trade, and their "violence against the landscape" (67). Without the aid of modern medicine and our modern understanding of contact tracing and tracking these diseases, a pandemic like this feels unbearable.
Another surprising aspect of this story to me was Aristides' dependence on God through all of the diseases that he faced. Even at his worst health, he looked to his faith to get him through physically. Today, people who use faith as an excuse to ignore covid protocols are shamed and even laughed at. But at the time of Aristides, this faith might have been all he had to truly depend on. He had doctors and medicine, but neither of which were more secure than his belief that God would protect him.
The beginning of the third chapter of The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire gave me chill bumps because of how timely and relatable the spread and crippling nature of disease is to a civilization. “The empire’s thick webs of connection let chronic diseases diffuse across the empire. But the really decisive moment came when an acute infectious disease transmitted directly between humans found its way into the empire” (Harper pg 63). It’s incredible because even with the pharmaceutical companies and gains in technology and biological understanding we are still vulnerable to this threat. We just lived through a pandemic and humanity especially when reliant on civilization is not well equipped to survive disease.
I think the article made an interesting point about the role agriculture and static life played in heightening germ exposure. “The rise of agriculture has been demoted from its privileged place because we no longer need a singular moment when humanity drew into fatally closer contact with a more or less stationary background of potentially lethal germs. The experience of the twentieth century has been a harsh teacher: emerging infectious diseases are a constant menace. Farm animals are only a small part of the biological brew from which new pathogens emerge. The continuing power of the wild to generate new adversaries is evident in the roll call of recent scourges like Zika, Ebola, and AIDS” (Harper pg 71). Ironically, our attempt to tame and bridle nature resulted in the development and widespread dissemination of disease. With agriculture we suffer because of the exposure and pristine environment for pathogen genetic mutilation and without it we risk a Malthusian type crisis where population will exponentially exceed resources.
Within Aelius’ Sacred Tales, Aelius shows his faith by trusting in his god, and refusing the recommended medicine that he needed. This resilience was seen even when doctors were requesting that he took their advice to treat his illnesses, seeing a steady decline in his health. Despite these requests, he persevered. This shows the power that faith and religion has had in the past, seeing how much more trusted and understood religion was than even basic medicines. This is interesting to see, since overall that viewpoint seems to have become less common. We definitely do still have people who trust in their faith over medicine, but as time has gone on it seems that things have flipped almost completely. More people are likely to trust medicine, and I think this is because it is becoming increasingly easy to understand medicine and what it will do.
The Fate of Rome personifies the famous city in a way that not only gives it human qualities it gives it feminine and motherly characteristics as well. When Rome "sprung from humble beginnings, has stretched to either pole..." it is much like giving birth to a child. When a child is born obviously the child comes out of the women's vagina but during childbirth many women experience a tearing (stretching) of the perineum. It is interesting Rome is spoken of having many battles and would protect the human race because of "the common name" and would provide citizenship to those Rome conquered. It is interesting though, Rome is given feminine and motherly characteristics when women during this time could not do anything and had no real rights, women were not allowed to fight in ancient Rome but the city can fight.
In Sacred Tale: I, Aelius Aristides is an obedient servant to a god that speaks to him through dreams. During the midst of several struggles that seemed detrimental to his health, Aelius dutifully follows the instruction and will of his god. This is the case even when the health and medical specialists of his time give their expert opinions on how to make him better. It's almost frustrating how it he refuses listen to the doctors and surgeons, etc. when it comes to these severe health complications. But he is emboldened in his faith every time he gets better or survives what looked like deadly illnesses simply by following the will and words of his god.
In today's society, medicine takes more of a precedence. We have tried and true practices and remedies and cures that one would think no sane individual could ever turn away. And yet people do. There are anti-vaxxers and herbal doctors and people who prefer to rely completely on religious or natural "medicines" to deal with their illnesses and ailments. Throughout this course, I have often found myself wondering how it is that primitive or less advanced humans survived for very long without modern medicines and society to fall back on. How did mothers deal with childbirth and how did humanity survive a common cold (let alone massive plagues) without medicines and doctors and experts. Reading these passages has me convinced that religion is/ was more powerful that modern society gives credit for. And that perhaps faith and will were stronger at times than mass knowledge.
Within chapter 3 of Kyle Harper's writing he talks a lot about the death rates with certain seasons and age brackets in Rome. In the late summer to fall seasons the death rate spikes for all age brackets especially working adults, and in the winter older citizens face another spike. Harper writes in great detail about how malaria is likely the biggest reason for the deaths due to the swampy wet areas near Rome that made it a hot spot for mosquitos and the large population of citizens.
The current world pandemic can be can easily be compared to the situation faced by the Romans. In Rome working aged citizens had the largest upticks in death similar to how currently our workers are the most at risk to catch the disease even if its not necessarily as lethal as malaria was. Both diseases could not singularly cause their respective nations to fail, but they do both highlight issues within their systems. Malaria in Rome showed how unhealthy and dangerous changing the surrounding nature of the city (cutting down forests) could be. Covid 19 has shown many issues with Americas healthcare, education system, political climate, and treatment of workers.
Kyle Harper makes an interesting point in the prologue of his book that the fall of the Roman Empire occurred in conjunction with a series of naturally-occurring changes in the climate, which likely exacerbated the conditions in which Rome fell. Notably, one of these conditions was the onset of a smallpox-induced pandemic, which ravaged the empire and carried serious consequences, ultimately allowing the Gothic tribes to claim victory in Rome. Harper explains that the consequences of human actions--especially the stirring up of various infectious diseases via overuse of the land--and climate change combined to ultimately overturn Rome's power within the known world.
This calls into the spotlight a comparison of the fall of Rome to the current situation seen worldwide today. The twenty-first century is facing climate changing at an unprecedented and increasing speed, and a pandemic has claimed millions of lives around the globe. While I am not convinced that these circumstances inherently mean that powerful nations will fall, it is worth noting that many of the causes of the Roman catastrophe and the current catastrophe have direct ties to how these powerful nations first interacted with their surrounding environments. These catastrophes are both due partly to chance and exacerbated by human actions. Once again, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Upon reading Aelius Aristides Sacred Tale 47, the influence of religion on science is revealed as one of the main factors in the events which unfold throughout the piece. Throughout the narrative, Aelius is forced to degrade his health in many ways including fasting, refusal to bathe, and throwing up constantly, which leads to an eventual decline in his health. At one point, Aelius is diagnosed with a tumor and is advised by his god to embrace its growth. As Aelius is introduced to a drug that alleviated his suffering, doctors at the time “stopped in their criticisms and expressed extraordinary admiration” for the work the god had done. By fully crediting his recovery to the work of the god, science in this aspect is viewed as a less dependable solution. Aelius is creating a hierarchy of religion and science, treating religion with much greater influence than anything science could have provided.
Aelius’s loyalty to religion is comparable to the modern reliance on science for knowledge of our world. As our knowledge of science has increased, religion has lessened its grasp on the reliance of its presence for influence on most people’s daily life. Although modern religions still uphold customs such as fasting, the development of science has allowed for safer and more applicable practices that do not exceed the limitations of our human body. At times throughout Aelius’s account, the physical tole he described his body going through made me question the necessity of his undying loyalty to his religion. The more contemporary conception of science, being quite the opposite of Aelius’s view, is more closely aligned with factual information, leaving religion to contain more possibility for abstraction from real occurrences.
We are living through a pandemic and are facing similar problems like they did back then with the plague. The major difference is thinking about how much technology and medicine that we have today and how much less the pandemic was because of it. One thing I think of is how much almost like hope and belief I had when this started that they'd make a vaccine and it would all be over. But back then I wonder how those people felt and if they had any kind of hope or reason to think things would be better other than just relying on their prayers. As we were talking about history in monday's class these true emotions and thoughts are hard to interpreted and passed along and it make a lot of things unknown.
Reading about this pandemic and the overall health of these people during the Roman Empire brought up so many connections to our current pandemic. I am currently in a microbiology class and we discussed some of the exact same ways diseases spread during ancient Rome and how they are the same as our current pandemic. That was something that really struck me from The Fate of Rome because I had not considered before this how even ancient cities have problems sharing pathogens. The idea that the connectedness of Rome, which was a strength, also created the ability for these microbes to be carried across the empire on ships or road seemed to be the ultimate downfall of many citizens of the empire.
In connection with Aristides works that we read, the idea that within the city there was no escape from the horrible diseases was really frightening. It reminded me a lot of American cities were immigrants worked in poor and unsanitary conditions. And, when it became hot and the sewage system was so poor, rich Americans would flock to the countryside. This seemed to be the same strategy that rich Romans implemented. This brought me back to our conversation during last class about the cycle of history. I think that this example of the poor being left to suffer in close quarters with disease while others can flee is like the metaphor of being able to look the "ghost" in the eye and seeing ourselves in it.
I think it is an interesting time for us to read about plagues compared to usual. Because we are in a pandemic, we are as close to understanding what they were dealing with as ever. There are still many differences, but still similarities. I think back to when Covid-19 hit and hospitals were filled with people who had it bad. I can't imagine how hard it must of been back before medicine, but I have more of an understanding of what the pandemic would have done to the peoples lives and the economy. On page 72, they talk about the disease in dense urban areas. We saw spikes in big cities here, so it is easy to imagine how fast it spread back then.
I did find it interesting at the beginning of the Chapter 3 how it started off talking about how terrible Aristides was. There was the quote about how he would hold his hands to his mouth because his teeth were falling out. He was in a terrible state, yet he still managed to deliver the “Roman Oration”. I found this to be impressive considering how he felt like he was close to death. Plus the fact that they didn't have modern-day medicine to help cure them. Today people will complain about not being able to work because they have a cold. After just reading the beginning, Aristides makes modern people look like babies.
I think it's interesting how the Roman people always blame their illnesses and pandemics on their gods and pray to them to heal the city. I feel like if I thought it was a god that caused the pandemic we are living in now I would not be happy about having to pray to that god to take it away. I would want to curse that god. Especially in a time without modern medicine, I can't imagine the horror a pandemic like this could have caused to the people. It's interesting to me how they praise and worship the gods that bring so much wrath down upon them. They have to kind of walk on egg shells so as not to upset them too much and bring a plague down on the people. I also think it's interesting that their plagues and pandemics were something so easily fixed now because of modern medicine. I wonder if Covid-19 would have wiped more of us out by now without modern medicine? How would the Romans have dealt with this pandemic? What god would they have blamed it on?