Plague of Cyprian

Plague of Cyprian
16th-century painting of Saint Cyprian, who documented the plague in his writings
Disease	Unknown, possibly Viral hemorrhagic fever, smallpox, or measles
Virus strain	Unknown, possibly a filovirus
Location	Roman Empire, Mediterranean basin
Date	c. 250–270

The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic which afflicted the Roman Empire from about AD 249 to 262,^[1][2] or 251/2 to 270.^[3] The plague is thought to have caused widespread manpower shortages for food production and the Roman army, severely weakening the empire during the Crisis of the Third Century.^[2][4][5] Its modern name commemorates St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, an early Christian writer who witnessed and described the plague, in his treatise On the Plague.^[2] The agent of the plague is highly speculative due to sparse sourcing, but suspects have included smallpox, measles, and viral hemorrhagic fever (filoviruses) like the Ebola virus.^[1][2] The response to the pandemic has strong ties to Christian beliefs and religion. The disease also attacked everyone "just and unjust".^[6]