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The plague and Pericles’ death in it are a completed public-health disaster of the war years

Dated 1 January 429: The plague and Pericles’ death in it are a completed public-health disaster of the war years. In the causal graph this event weakens Health-System Capacity, a driver that strengthens Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) — a worsening welfare path.

The plague and Pericles’ death in it are a completed public-health disaster of the war years

Sources: [1]

Read the full account

A received epidemic. Unique R0 is not invented. Shared crowding policy. Pericles did not operate this later page as a civil-registry autograph.

Context

Shared institutions, unnamed crews, and later editors remain in the record and do not erase a documented heading.

Pericles Shared work with other named actors remains in the record.

Pericles’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below.

Conventional c.495–429 BCE. Thucydides’ Funeral Oration is literary testimony, not a stenograph.

Why it matters

A received epidemic. Unique R0 is not invented. Shared crowding policy.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Pericles

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.4 · verified

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactThe plague and Pericles’ death in it are a completed public-health disaster of the war years
    2. weakensDriverHealth-System Capacity
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 1 January 429 · verified

    A received epidemic. Unique R0 is not invented.

    • Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)

      via Health-System Capacity

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.33 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.6)

      Observed

      3.08 Per 1000 people · 1.24 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      6 readings, 2018–2023: rose from 3.07 Per 1000 people to 3.08 Per 1000 people.

      Above normal = better

    • Under-five mortality rate (global)

      via Health-System Capacity

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.28 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.5)

      Observed

      37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births · 12.4 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 40 deaths per 1,000 live births to 37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.

      Above normal = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified1 source on file
  1. 1.Perseus — Thucydides, HistoryPerseus Digital Library / Tufts · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Pericles did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorPericles
  2. contributed toFactThe plague and Pericles’ death in it are a completed public-health disaster of the war years
  3. weakensDriverHealth-System Capacity
  4. strengthensIndicatorHospital beds (per 1,000 people)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The plague and Pericles’ death in it are a completed public-health disaster of the war years. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/per-plague-429

https://factrail.ai/facts/per-plague-429

Accessed 17 October 2026.

By the · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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