'The Fate of Rome' - Kyle Harper

[Nathan Ross]

Just curious as to how he came to that conclusion.

Hi Michael. Harper says there are recorded cases of the disease appearing in Asia Minor in 165, including Aelius Aristides among its victims; Aristides survived, but clearly the disease could not have been brought by soldiers returning from the sack of Seleucia, since that did not happen until later the same year, and the troops of Lucius Verus did not return to the west until early in 166.

He guesses that the disease originated in the short term in the region of modern Ethiopia, and entered the empire via the Nile and Red Sea, like most other epidemics of the era. But many pandemics seem to have had their ultimate origin in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, so your 161-162 event may have had the same cause.