Main description:

This book tackles the difficult challenge of uncovering the pathogenic cause, epidemiological mechanics and broader historical impacts of an extremely deadly third-century ancient Roman pandemic. The core of this research is embodied in a novel systems synthesis methodology that allows for ground-breaking historical-scientific problem-solving. Through precise historical and scientific problem-solving, analysis and modelling, the authors piece together a holistic puzzle portrait of an ancient plague that is fully consistent, in turn, with both the surviving ancient evidence and the latest in cutting edge twenty-first-century modern medical and molecular phylogenetic science. Demonstrating the broader relevance of the crisis-beset world of the third-century Roman Empire in providing guiding and cautionary historical lessons for the present, this innovative book provides fascinating insights for students and scholars across a range of disciplines.

Contents:

Part I-"The Theory": The Rediscovery and Reinterpretation of an Ancient Pandemic.- Chapter 1- The Ancient Evidentiary Foundations.- Chapter 2 - A Most Difficult Source and the Relevance of Climatic Circumstances.- Part II-- "The What and the How": Underlying Differential Virology, Molecular Phylogenetics, Host Species Ecology and Biogeographical Presence.- Chapter 3- Retrospective and Differential Pathogen Diagnosis.- Chapter 4- Of Bats and Empires: The Egyptian Rousette Bat and the Kingdom of Aksum.- Chapter 5-Modeling an Ancient Zoonotic Outbreak.- Part III--"The Why": Projected MARV Lineage Epidemiology and Pathology in the Third century Roman Empire.- Chapter 6- Guardrail Modeling: Geographical Dissemination Pathways and the Urban Epidemiological Setting.- Chapter 7- Exploration of Modeled Urban Epidemiology Concluded and Analysis of the Contrasting Epidemiological Situation in the Imperial Countryside.- Chapter 8- The Plague of Cyprian: Timelines, Outlines and Parameters.- Part IV: "Conclusion--Final Thoughts on the Plague of Cyprian": Methodological Defense and Brief Overview of Our "Solution", Histoiographical Context and Current Relevance.- Chapter 9- Situating the Plague of Cyprian within the Broader Outlines of Roman History.- Chapter 10- Modern Relevance of the Plague of Cyprian.