Starting at 2pm
Pandemic on Hadrian’s Wall?
by Dr Nick Hodgson FSA
In the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne there is one inscription from Hadrian’s Wall which has a particular interest and relevance to us in the age of coronavirus, as it can be directly linked to a pandemic that afflicted the Roman empire, the Antonine plague of the 160s. The lecture seeks to describe this inscription and to place it in its empire-wide context. The inscription and other contemporary evidence indicate that Britain was not immune from the effects of the Antonine plague as is often said in the past, and offer a remarkable insight into the Roman methods of dealing with pandemic disease.