The Worst Epidemics Throughout History

Plague of Athens

A pandemic took the lives of many Athens' city-dwellers. The disease ravaged the town from 430-435 BC. SIt is believed that over 100,000 people died during the epidemic. Thucydides, a Greek historian of the era, described the scene saying that "people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, [...] becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural breath."

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The More You Know

  • Virginia is the only state that has the same state flower and state tree, the Dogwood.
  • The first American woman to go to medical school was admitted as a joke. Geneva Medical School thought it was joke when Elizabeth Blackwell applied to attend 1847. She graduated in 1849, started her own practice, and opened an infirmary for the poor.
  • The largest volcano in the solar system is three times taller than Mount Everest.
  • Only two national flags have the color purple on them.
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