Accompanied by Professor Renaud Piarroux, head of department at the Pitié Salpêtrière (AP-HP), specialist in infectious diseases, we delve into the history of epidemics, from prehistory to the end of Antiquity. Today, we tell you about the first epidemic described: the plague of Thucydides, in Athens.
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The team: Charlotte Baris (presentation and writing), Léa Bertrand (editing), and Jules Krot (direction).
Credits: INA, HBO, Studiocanal, France 24, City of Science and Industry
Music and design: Emmanuel Herschon / Studio Torrent
Image credits: Getty Images / iStockphoto
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain / Benjamin Chazal
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Charlotte Baris: The Black Death, the Spanish Flu, Cholera and even Covid. Epidemics have marked our history, often reduced to medieval representations. However, they allow us to understand the pandemics we can face today. Through five major historical periods of Antiquity, we take you to discover the birth of epidemics.
Today we take a big leap in history. We remain in Antiquity, but we leave Egypt and the banks of the Nile, to arrive in the heart of the Mediterranean, in Greece, around 400 BCE.
You may remember that in previous episodes of this series, we talked about the lack of written records to trace the history of epidemics. So things are changing now. And here I have to introduce you to someone: his name is Thucydides. He is an Athenian politician and historian. It is on his writings, The Peloponnesian Warwhich we will rely on today.
Renaud Piarroux, epidemiologist and head of department at the Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris, is still with us. And to begin this episode, he gave some historical reminders.
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