Reading Thucydides in a Time of Pandemic

Right after “Pericles’ Funeral Oration” in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War comes the vivid description of the “Plague of Athens.” Readers today cannot but note the parallels between the upheaval in Athens and the disruptions we are experiencing today. This presentation will focus on the science of epidemiology - how we learn about diseases, how they spread, and how we can prevent them, relating what we can learn about the plague in Athens to what we have learned about Covid-19.

With Karen Ruff