Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Between 165 and about 180, the Roman Empire, which had stood so tall and so strong for over a century, swayed under the weight of the Antonine Plague. Modern research has centered on smallpox as a likely cause of the plague, and emphasizes that it was a new type of threat to settled, agricultural societies. The impact of the plague has been heavily debated by historians for over three hundred years, with much of the recent discussion arguing that it was indeed devastating. So devastating, in fact, that the historian Walter Scheidel labels this period the "First Fall of Rome"
SOURCES:
The Fate of Rome, Harper
Escape from Rome, Scheidel
The Antonines, Grant
Between 165 and about 180, the Roman Empire, which had stood so tall and so strong for over a century, swayed under the weight of the Antonine Plague. Modern research has centered on smallpox as a likely cause of the plague, and emphasizes that it was a new type of threat to settled, agricultural societies. The impact of the plague has been heavily debated by historians for over three hundred years, with much of the recent discussion arguing that it was indeed devastating. So devastating, in fact, that the historian Walter Scheidel labels this period the "First Fall of Rome"
SOURCES:
The Fate of Rome, Harper
Escape from Rome, Scheidel
The Antonines, Grant
