According to Dr. Walter Scheidel, there are four types of inequality in human society. These are mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and lastly as we have been experiencing for over a year now, catastrophic pandemics. When you think about it, the coronavirus pandemic has been somewhat of a leveler in terms of status and suffering, although not nearly one as dramatic as some of the other events in history. Everyone has suffered. Nearly everyone has lost a loved one, or knows someone who has lost a loved one. Without a doubt, we can say that the coronaavirus pandemic has impacted our culture and lifestyle as a species in a way that will have far-reaching consequences. Pandemics in human history have played a huge role in shaping our society today. Take for example the Antonian Plague that occurred in the Roman Empire between 165–180 AD. Owing to the extent of the Roman Empire under its great leader Marcus Aurelius, the pandemic spread as far and wide from Italy and Western Europe to Africa and even Asia Minor. It destroyed almost a third of the population in some areas, even claiming the life of Marcus Aurelius himself. According to historians, the Antonian Plague is one of the most important reasons behind the spread of Christianity throughout Europe. The pandemic left the Roman Empire reeling, and the behemoth empire soon buckled. This, however, left the gap for a renewal of faith and spirituality, leaving the door open for Christianity to shape the centuries ahead. Even today, the head of the religion is in Rome. The first global pandemic in the right sense of the term came with the Black Death. The effects of the outbreak are still very visible in human society. For starters, people did not bathe everyday before the pandemic. The pandemic itself was attributed to the bubonic plague, and actually originated in China before travelling down the Silk Road in 1347. By 1400, it had claimed the lives of almost 60% of Europe’s population. It was during this time, that the concepts of quarantine and plague doctors were established in various parts of the world. Modern medicine would have developed very differently without the Black Death. Some of the most devastating pandemics have seen huge differences in the life of humans before and after. As humans gear up for more socially distant lives in a world with limited space for a booming population, we stand at the precipice of one of the biggest challenges we have faced as the human race. However, it is going through the crucible of suffering that paves the way for a better, newer human race, and as we have always done before, there is hope for a new dawn after this pandemic.
10 Jan 2022
Adarsh Tripathi
