WI: Hadrian's Plague

Just bouncing around ideas here. What if, like the bubonic plague which affected the eastern roman empire of Justinian, the plague hit instead in 125 AD when the roman empire was still a powerful entity?

Obviously the empire would be weakened, but to what point? Will it allow earlier "barbarian invasions"?

I just think it would be cool to see the Roman Empire sudenly collapse while powerful, and see who or what would fill the vaccum.

Discuss
 
Nice idea

To some extent it will depend on if the plague spread over the borders into the barbarian lands. If it just attacked the heart of the Empire then I can see there being a scramble amoungst the provincial governors for the throne in Rome.

It may well be that an area was spared the plague entirely (as with some areas with the Black Death). These people would probably be seen as blessed by the Gods, and would be venerated by the rest of the Empire.
 
Well look at the Antonie Plague to see what the effects a plague on a powerful classic Roman Empire would have.
 
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