当前位置: X-MOL 学术Journal of Classics Teaching › 论文详情
Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)
The Plague of Athens Shedding Light on Modern Struggles with COVID-19
Journal of Classics Teaching ( IF 0.2 ) Pub Date : 2021-03-23 , DOI: 10.1017/s2058631021000064
Jilene Malbeuf , Peter Johnson , John Johnson , Austin Mardon

In 2020, we are facing unprecedented times, and as some form of lockdown continues with no signs of ending feelings of hopelessness are completely natural and understandable. Unprecedented times does not mean that these current issues and struggles have never been faced by humanity before, however. The Spanish Flu which took place after World War One and the Black Death that was rampant in Asia and Europe in the 14th century quickly come to mind as examples of past pandemics, but these are only two examples of devastating diseases throughout human history. The Plague of Athens that was raging during the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 430 BCE is another such example. Though removed from our current situation by many centuries, its symptoms and the effects it had on the population of Athens have been meticulously recorded by the general and historian Thucydides, giving us the opportunity to compare his account to our own experiences today. The disease may be different, and the image he portrays may be more violent and desperate than our own, but nonetheless we can see similarities in how these two separate societies have reacted to unforeseen hardships. In this comparison, we can come to understand at once our own good fortune at going through a pandemic with the support of modern technology and medicine as well as how universal our reactions are to this type of suffering, thereby making it natural rather than shameful. Humanity has faced a great deal of diversity before, and COVID-19 will likely prove to be no different.

中文翻译:

雅典瘟疫揭示了现代与 COVID-19 的斗争

2020 年,我们正面临前所未有的时代,随着某种形式的封锁仍在继续,没有任何结束绝望的迹象,这是完全自然和可以理解的。然而,前所未有的时代并不意味着人类从未面临过这些当前的问题和斗争。第一次世界大战后发生的西班牙流感和 14 世纪在亚洲和欧洲肆虐的黑死病很快就成为过去流行病的例子,但这只是人类历史上毁灭性疾病的两个例子。公元前 430 年伯罗奔尼撒战争开始期间肆虐的雅典瘟疫就是另一个例子。尽管与我们目前的处境相距许多世纪,它的症状及其对雅典人口的影响已被将军和历史学家修昔底德细致地记录下来,使我们有机会将他的叙述与我们今天的经历进行比较。疾病可能不同,他所描绘的形象可能比我们自己的形象更加暴力和绝望,但尽管如此,我们可以看到这两个不同的社会对不可预见的困难做出反应的相似之处。在这种比较中,我们可以立即了解自己在现代技术和医学的支持下度过大流行的幸运,以及我们对这种痛苦的反应是多么普遍,从而使其自然而不是可耻。人类以前曾面临过大量的多样性,而 COVID-19 很可能不会有什么不同。让我们有机会将他的叙述与我们今天的经历进行比较。疾病可能不同,他所描绘的形象可能比我们自己的形象更加暴力和绝望,但尽管如此,我们可以看到这两个不同的社会对不可预见的困难做出反应的相似之处。在这种比较中,我们可以立即了解自己在现代技术和医学的支持下度过大流行的幸运,以及我们对这种痛苦的反应是多么普遍,从而使其自然而不是可耻。人类以前曾面临过大量的多样性,而 COVID-19 很可能不会有什么不同。让我们有机会将他的叙述与我们今天的经历进行比较。疾病可能不同,他所描绘的形象可能比我们自己的形象更加暴力和绝望,但尽管如此,我们可以看到这两个不同的社会对不可预见的困难做出反应的相似之处。在这种比较中,我们可以立即了解自己在现代技术和医学的支持下度过大流行的幸运,以及我们对这种痛苦的反应是多么普遍,从而使其自然而不是可耻。人类以前曾面临过大量的多样性,而 COVID-19 很可能不会有什么不同。但尽管如此,我们可以看到这两个不同的社会如何应对不可预见的困难有相似之处。在这种比较中,我们可以立即了解自己在现代技术和医学的支持下度过大流行的幸运,以及我们对这种痛苦的反应是多么普遍,从而使其自然而不是可耻。人类以前曾面临过大量的多样性,而 COVID-19 很可能不会有什么不同。但尽管如此,我们可以看到这两个不同的社会如何应对不可预见的困难有相似之处。在这种比较中,我们可以立即了解自己在现代技术和医学的支持下度过大流行的幸运,以及我们对这种痛苦的反应是多么普遍,从而使其自然而不是可耻。人类以前曾面临过大量的多样性,而 COVID-19 很可能不会有什么不同。
更新日期:2021-03-23
down
wechat
bug