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Epidemics in premodern Middle Eastern society and thought
Author(s) -
Ayalon Yaron
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12651
Subject(s) - plague (disease) , mamluk , islam , action (physics) , history , ancient history , state (computer science) , period (music) , middle ages , political science , psychology , criminology , geography , aesthetics , art , archaeology , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science
This article examines thought about and responses to epidemics in the Middle East before the 19th century. Its focus is mostly on approaches to plagues, the responses of state officials to them, and people's reactions in the Ottoman period (16th–18th centuries), with some attention given to the early Islamic and Mamluk periods. Among issues explored are distribution of grain, price control measures, tax adjustments, and an array of other actions taken mostly locally, including quarantine. The latter referred primarily to the question of flight: whether it was permissible to leave a plague‐ridden area, and how many people actually took such action. As I show here, flight was a common response despite prohibitions on the practice appearing in the Islamic plague literature.