How To Survive During A Pandemic: Get Inspired By Marcus Aurelius
In 165 AD, Roman troops were besieging Ctesiphon, the capital city of the Parthian Empire, located in what is today the territory of Iraq.
The army led by Avidius Cassius, a Roman general, succeeded in razing the city to the ground.
After the destruction of Ctesiphon, Seleucia, located on the other side of the Tigris River, was the only city that the Romans needed to take.
Seleucia fell, and the Parthian Empire was severely crippled. With these final battles, the Romans had ended the war and defeated their greatest enemy.
Coming home victorious, the Roman troops brought great riches back to Rome. However, unknowingly, they also carried with them something very sinister: the plague.
As soon as the troops arrived in Rome, the disease hit, spreading rapidly throughout the city, and later invading other parts of the Empire.
Originating somewhere in Central Asia or China, this malady propagated itself with a vengeance and hit all sectors of society. One of the co-emperors of the Roman Empire, Lucius Verus, died because of it a few years later.
This left Marcus Aurelius as the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He was tasked with leading a country ravaged by disease, and fighting enemies on…
