Plague of Cyprian

The Plague of Cyprian (249-262 CE) was a plague that swept through the Roman Empire.
It was named after St. Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage who described the Plague.

At its worst point, 5,000 people a day were dying in Rome.
A further outbreak of Plague in 270 CE is considered to have been part of the same epidemic.
It appears to have been a similar epidemic to the earlier Antonine Plague.
The Plague coincided with the Decian Persecution of 250 CE.

The Antonine Plague was the worst Epidemic experienced by the Roman Empire.
It was also known as the Plague of Galen, who described it as an Epidemic of Smallpox or Measles, having been being brought into the Roman Empire by the Legions from the East.
Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 325-400 CE) stated that it started with the Siege of Seleucia on the Tigris in 165-6 CE and then decimated the Rhine Legions.
The Plague was named after the reigning Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius who was of the Antonine Dynasty.
In 174 CE, the Plague resurfaced, and Dio Cassius states 2,000 people died every day in Rome.
Eutropius estimated the Roman Empire lost millions of persons, possibly up to five million altogether.

The Western Roman Empire never fully recovered from the effects of the Antonine Plague and the Plague of Cyprian.
The Germanic Tribes were encouraged to take advantage and commence a wave of invasions, at the same time as Provincial Governors would start a civil war, declare themselves Emperor and march on Rome.
The ‘Golden Age’ of Rome (29 BCE-180 CE) was over and historians refer to this period of anarchy as the Crisis of the Third Century.