Remains of 'End of the

World' Epidemic Found

in Ancient Egypt
By Owen Jarus, Lie !cience "ontri#utor $ June %&, '(%)
(*+)'am E,
Here, a bonfire where many of the victims of an ancient epidemic in the
ancient city of Thebes in Egypt were ultimately incinerated.
Credit: Photo by N. Cian ! "ssocia#ione Culturale per lo $tudio dell%Egitto e del
$udan &N'($.
)iew full si#e image
Archaeologists hae uncoered the remains of an
epidemic in Egypt so terri#le that one ancient writer
#elieed the world was coming to an end-
Wor.ing at the Funerary "omple/ of 0arwa and
A.himenru in the west #an. of the ancient city of ,he#es
1modern2day Lu/or3 in Egypt, the team of the 4talian
Archaeological 5ission to Lu/or 15A4L3 found #odies
coered with a thic. layer of lime 1historically used as a
disinfectant3- ,he researchers also found three .ilns
where the lime was produced, as well as a giant #onfire
containing human remains, where many of the plague
ictims were incinerated-
6ottery remains found in the .ilns allowed researchers to
date the grisly operation to the third century A-7-, a time
when a series of epidemics now du##ed the 86lague of
"yprian8 raaged the Roman Empire, which included
Egypt- !aint "yprian was a #ishop of "arthage 1a city in
,unisia3 who descri#ed the plague as signaling the end of
the world- 9!ee 6hotos of the Remains of 6lague :ictims
; ,he#es !ite<
Occurring #etween roughly A-7- '=(2'*%, the plague
8according to some sources .illed more than =,((( people
a day in Rome alone,8 wrote Francesco ,iradritti, director
of the 5A4L, in the latest issue of Egyptian Archaeology, a
maga>ine pu#lished #y the Egypt E/ploration !ociety-
,iradritti's team uncoered the remains of this #ody2
disposal operation #etween %??* and '(%'- ,he
monument his team is e/caating was originally #uilt in
the seenth century B-"- for a grand steward named
0arwa- After 0arwa's death, the Egyptians continuously
used the monument for #urial 1A.himenru was a
successor who #uilt his own tom# there3- 0oweer, after
its use for #ody disposal during the plague, the monument
was a#andoned and neer used again-
A lime .iln #uilt to produce enough lime disinfectant to coer the human
remains of ictims from the epidemic in the ancient city of ,he#es-
"redit+ 6hoto #y @- "iAan B Associa>ione "ulturale per lo !tudio dellCEgitto e
del !udan O@LD!-
:iew full si>e image
,he use of the comple/ 8for the disposal of infected
corpses gae the monument a lasting #ad reputation and
doomed it to centuries of o#liion until tom#
ro##ers entered the comple/ in the early %?th century,8
,iradritti writes-
End of the world
"yprian left a gut2wrenching record of what the ictims
suffered #efore they died- 8,he #owels, rela/ed into a
constant flu/, discharge the #odily strength 9and< a fire
originated in the marrow ferments into wounds of the
fauces 1an area of the mouth3,8 he wrote in Latin in a wor.
called 87e mortalitate-8 ,he 8intestines are sha.en with a
continual omiting, 9and< the eyes are on fire with the
inAected #lood,8 he wrote, adding that 8in some cases the
feet or some parts of the lim#s are ta.en off #y the
contagion of diseased putrefaction E8
"yprian #elieed that the world was coming to an end-
8,he .ingdom of Fod, #eloed #rethren, is #eginning to #e
at handG the reward of life, and the reAoicing of eternal
salation, and the perpetual gladness and possession
lately lost of paradise, are now coming, with the passing
away of the world E8 1translation #y 6hilip !chaff, from
the #oo. 8Ante2@icene Fathers8, olume =, %HH=3-
While the world, of course, did not end, the plague
wea.ened the Roman Empire- 84t .illed two Emperors,
0ostilian in A-7- '=% and "laudius 44 Fothicus in A-7-
'*(,8 wrote ,iradritti- 4t is 8a generally held opinion that the
'6lague of "yprian' seriously wea.ened the Roman
Empire, hastening its fall-8 94n 6hotos+ %)th2"entury 'Blac.
7eath' Frae 7iscoered<
,he newly unearthed remains at Lu/or underscore the
plague's potency- ,iradritti'steam found no eidence that
the ictims receied any sort of religious rites during their
incineration- 8We found eidence of corpses either #urned
or #uried inside the lime,8 he told Lie !cience in an
interiew- 8,hey had to dispose of them without losing any
time-8
What caused the plague?
,he plague may hae #een some form of smallpo/ or
measles, accordingto modern day scientists- While the
discoery of human remains associated with the plague
will gie anthropologists new material to study, ,iradritti
cautions they will not #e a#le to e/tract 7@A from the
#odies-
While stories a#out researchers e/tracting 7@A from
mummies 1such as,utan.hamun3 hae made headlines in
recent years, ,iradritti told Lie !cience he doesn't #eliee
the results from such ancient specimens- 84n a climate li.e
Egypt, the 7@A is completely destroyed,8 he said- 7@A
#rea.s down oer time, and permafrost 1something not
found in Egypt3 is the #est place to find ancient 7@A
samples, ,iradritti said-
Immense monument
,he discoery of the #ody disposal site is Aust one part of
the team's research- ,he#es is a massie site containing a
ast necropolis, and the e/caations of the 5A4L are
proiding new data that allows scholars to determine how
it changed #etween the seenth century B-"- and today-
,he funerary comple/ of 0arwa and A.himenru, which the
5A4L has #een e/caating since %??=, is one of the
largest priate funerary monuments of Egypt- ,iradritti
notes that it is considered a .ey monument for studying a
pea. period in Egyptian art .nown as the 86haraonic
Renaissance8 that lasted from the start of the seenth
century B-"- until the mid2si/th century B-"- 7uring this
time, ,iradritti notes, artists created innoatie new wor.s
that were rooted in older Egyptian artistic traditions-
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