249 – 262 · Across the Roman Empire Theater
249 – 262
A devastating pandemic — possibly a viral haemorrhagic fever — swept the empire for more than a decade, described in horrifying detail by the Christian bishop Cyprian of Carthage. At its height it was said to kill 5,000 people a day in Rome alone, emptying cities, ravaging the armies, and crippling the economy at the very moment the empire faced invasion on every front.
Commanders