430 BCEReputable sourceWell documented
The Plague of Athens
On the timeline · around 430 BCE · The Ancient Plagues
What happened
In the second year of the Peloponnesian War, a devastating epidemic swept through Athens, packed with refugees behind its walls. The historian Thucydides — who caught the disease and survived — left a vivid eyewitness account of its symptoms and of the social breakdown it caused. By its end the epidemic had killed upwards of a third of the population.
Why it matters
The Plague of Athens is the first epidemic in history described in careful, clinical detail, and it helped cripple Athens at the height of its power — a reminder of how disease can turn the course of history.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. The Plague at Athens, 430–427 BCE · Reputable source
Related timelines
- Ancient Greece → — The plague that struck Athens during the Peloponnesian War