Infectious disease in the Sumerian and Indus Valley Civilisations and 18th Dynasty Egypt : an alternative medical history perspective of ancient history

  • Philip Anthony Norrie

Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis

Abstract

One of the great mysteries of ancient history is why the Indus Valley Civilisation, the largest of the five original ancient civilisation regions declined. The aim of this thesis is to document the role of infectious disease on the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation c. 1900 - 1300 BCE. This is the first time this has been done. There have been many theories about possible causes for the end of the Indus Valley Civilisation such as climate change, shift of the monsoon eastwards from the Indus River basin to the Ganges River basin, tectonic forces changing the course of the Indus River to variously cause drought or flooding and finally Aryan invasion. The hypothesis of this thesis is that infectious diseases may have contributed to the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation. This thesis will also show that an infectious disease epidemic, most likely pneumonic plague, may have helped in the decline of the Sumerian Civilisation c.2000 BCE. This epidemic could have come from what is today Russia or China via the Zagros Mountains or from the Indus Valley Civilisation onboard boats used in their mutual sea trade. Conversely the Sumerian epidemic could also have gone in the opposite direction and infected the Indus Valley Civilisation instead. Both the Sumerian and Indus Valley Civilisations did not end abruptly but instead slowly declined with, most importantly, their ideas, beliefs, language, writing methods, mathematics and moral values being absorbed into subsequent civilisations. This thesis will use mainly an historiographic approach to propose that up to twelve different infectious diseases which existed in ancient times were possible major causes or co-factors in the decline of the Sumerian and Indus Valley Civilisations. These diseases include five that are so lethal that they have been used as biological warfare agents, namely smallpox, plague, tularemia, shigella dysentery and anthrax. The other seven diseases are leprosy, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, malaria, measles, haemorrhagic fevers and influenza.
Date of Award2021
Original languageEnglish

Keywords

  • Indus civilization
  • Sumerians
  • Egypt
  • communicable diseases
  • epidemics
  • history
  • social aspects

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