Greek Immigrant in Roman-Era London Used Amulet to Ward Off Plague

[Disir]

A Greek inhabitant of the Roman city of Londinium in the late 160s, named Demetrios, lived through the Antonine plague — or at least part of the plague — which he tried to ward off by wearing a scroll with a Greek prayer in the form of rhyming hexameters.

This was the same style of writing used in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

Incredibly, his amulet, containing the inscribed lead sheet rolled up inside it, was discovered 2,000 years later on the banks of the Thames. Now safely ensconced in a place of honor in the Museum of London, which houses many such treasures found in the city, it tells a story of desperation with which we can easily identify today.

This written plea for protection from the “raging” plague, which he said caused “flesh-wasting, melting, infiltrating pain,” was addressed to the Greek deities Iao, Sabbath and Abrasax.

In the heart-rending text, the Greek man begs the deities to “watch over Demetrios.”

The plague of those days, which may have actually been a virus, lasted for approximately one decade, from the 160s to the 170s. Sadly, it most likely will never be known exactly how Demetrios’ amulet found its way to the banks of the Thames.

Greek Immigrant in Roman-Era London Used Amulet to Ward Off Plague

Although most of us may feel a bit sorry for ourselves in 2020, having to deal with lockdowns and other strict measures to combat the coronavirus, we are are truly not alone in this experience. Millions of people who lived before us dealt with plagues which killed vast swaths of the population...

greece.greekreporter.com

That's kind of cool.

 

[justinacolmena]

That was known as “Antonine Plague” or the “Plague of Galen”

Antonine Plague

The Antonine Plague, sometimes referred to as the Plague of Galen, erupted in 165 CE, at the height of Roman power throughout the Mediterranean world during the reign of the last of the Five Good Emperors...

www.ancient.eu

>>> legionaries contracted the disease from fellow soldiers who had been on leave returning to active duty
Soldiers were calling in sick to duty.

The Plague of Justinian occurred 400 years later.

What Was The Plague of Justinian? | Passport Health

You've probably heard of the bubonic plague, but have you heard of the Plague of Justinian that killed as much as 10 percent of the world's population?

www.passporthealthusa.com

>>> As farmers and other workers were dying by the thousands, Justinian was unable to complete many of the projects he had started and began to raise taxes and change the tax code.
Farm laborers were calling in sick at harvest time.

Were the English Sweating Sickness and the Picardy Sweat Caused by Hantaviruses?

The English sweating sickness caused five devastating epidemics between 1485 and 1551, England was hit hardest, but on one occasion also mainland Europe, with mortality rates between 30% and 50%. The Picardy sweat emerged about 150 years after the English ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

>>> Both diseases have been the subject of numerous attempts to define their origin, but so far all efforts were in vain.
This one was definitely workers on medical leave strike -- the “English sweat” has no satisfactory bona fide medical explanation.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

Best they had at the time.

*****SMILE*****