Plague as a Disaster of Athens

Misery, desperation, disorder, lack of control, no religion, tradition or culture, total ethical decay and disarray... It is without a doubt hard to believe how a disaster such as the plague that took place in Athens in 430 B.C. could recommence what was held to be an ideal independent democratic power to an inconceivable fall down of morals and principles on each level and in every area.

Its effects on the polis and on the public echo in the modern-day writings of the moment, which disparage, more or less sardonically, the sharp growth of human agency within the socio-political and educational life of the polis, associated with its inevitable shortcomings. Both Thucydides - the historian - and Sophocles – the dramatist - employ the plague in their works, detail that suggests that it had a significant function to play in the disaster of Athens. It is vital that we scrutinize the function of the epidemic within the context of Periclean Athens, when the polis was so blinded by its magnitude that it could not see its faults. In his “History of the Peloponnesian War”, Thucydides juxtaposes his factual account of the plague to Pericles’ Funeral Oration that praises the grandeur of Athens with no reference to the gods. For the historian, this coincidence and the plague itself are used as tools to criticize the instability of social equality as a form of administration that exclusively relies on the conclusions of the self-interested demos, and the tragic consequences that this implies. Thus, the plague allows him to evaluate not only human good value and principle, but also human response to adversity and namely democracy’s failure in maintain order in time of catastrophe. Conversely, his modern, Sophocles, in the tragedy of “Oedipus Rex” – written soon after the plague occurred – dramatizes not only Oedipus’ harmatia, but he is very mindful of the escalating social and political puzzlement of Periclean Athens.

The penalty of the plague makes him realize the increasingly cold remoteness between the humans and the gods, and their diminished and almost inexistent role in the Athenian society. Hence, in “Oedipus Rex”, he ironically evokes that state of despair throughout the plague and reminds community the pre-eminence of the gods and of providence, which can thump and tear down even the most authoritative individual force. We can therefore observe the dichotomy that lies in the assumptions which determine the two writers’ points of view: Thucydides attributes the manifestation of the plague to ability, seeing its irregular character as an ordinary misfortune, whereas Sophocles focuses on the plague seen as blight brought on Thebes by Oedipus and his preset fate. In spite of this dichotomy, both are concerned with the tragedy of the Athenians who cannot differentiate between appearance and essence, which cannot see for they are blinded by their independent advantage and sole reliance on human agency and who, because of all this, confirm to be unsuccessful in time of catastrophe.