Pharaonic Egypt and the origins of Plague
by
Eva Panagiotakopulu
Dept of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield

The earliest widely recognised account of Bubonic Plague is the 6th Century AD pandemic in the Byzantine Empire. The mechanisms of spread of the disease, the ecology of its vectors, archaeological and literary information all suggest that the Plague was present in the Eastern Mediterranean region at least two thousand years earlier and that its probable place of origin is pharaonic Egypt.

Date received: February 20, 2002