Epidemic and Ancient Literature

Nino Chikhladze

doi:10.52340/atsu.2020.1.15.09

Authors

Nino Chikhladze Akaki Tsereteli State University, Kutaisi, Georgia Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52340/atsu.2020.1.15.09

Keywords:

epidemia, ancient literature, writers, doctors

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a pandemic on March 11, 2020 and words such as "epidemic," "pandemic," and "panic" became part of our daily discourse. These words are of Greek origin and indicate that the ancient Greeks thought a lot about diseases, both in its purely medical sense and as a metaphor for the wider conduct of human affairs. In some memorable passages in Ancient literature, the Greeks call Loimos a plague, while the Romans call it Pestis. The article deals with the description of the epidemic in ancient literature, in particular with Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, Lucretius, Virgil, and Ovid.

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