14 DAY TRIAL // After years of debates on what caused the epidemic which struck Athens during the second year of the Peloponnesian War, the examining of DNA taken from ancient dental pulp has revealed that the "Plague of Athens" was in fact typhoid fever.
The study was carried out by a team of Greek researchers led by Manolis Papagrigorakis, and the DNA samples were taken from burial pits.
According to historians, the plague began in Ethiopia and passed through Egypt and Libya to Greece in 430-426 B.C. and changed the balance of power between Athens and Sparta, ending the Athenian dominance in the ancient world.
Up until today, the only available data has been provided by the Greek historian Thucydides, who managed to recover after the same disease which killed two thirds of the Athenians.
Despite the detailed descriptions, the researchers have not been able to agree on the identity of the plague, several hypotheses existing: bubonic plague, measles, anthrax and smallpox.
A mass burial pit unearthed in the Kerameikos ancient cemetery of Athens and dated back to the time of the historical outbreak, provided the required skeletal material for the investigation of ancient microbial DNA.
The disease is caused by the Salmonella typhi bacterium.
Dr Manolis J Papagrigorakis at the University of Athens emphasized the importance of this discovery by saying that: "Studying the historical aspects of infectious diseases can be a powerful tool for several disciplines to learn from. We believe this report to be of outstanding importance for many scientific fields, since it sheds light to one of the most debated enigmas in medical history."