Josh Beer, Michael Bloom and Douglas Moggach – Plagues in Life and Literature in Ancient and Mediaeval Times

Josh Beer

The Ancient World      
The recent outbreak of the Covid virus showed that plagues can have unexpected consequences. European literature begins with a plague, described in the opening of Homer’s war epic, the Iliad(c.700 BC). Although a cure is found, the rippling effect pervades the whole poem. Similarly, a plague broke out in Athens near the start of the Peloponnesian war (431-404 BC). It killed at least a quarter of the population and helped undermine the confidence with which the Athenians entered the war. 

Josh Beer is founder and member of the executive committee of OSFAS.  He is an adjunct professor at Carleton University, after having taught there for 50 years. For over twelve years, he directed students of the College of Humanities in highly-praised dramatic readings of Greek tragedy.

Michael Bloom

The Middle Ages

The most striking plague of the medieval period likely originated in Mongolia in the 1340s. The Black Death spread rapidly west by land and sea, erupting spectacularly in an unprepared Europe in 1347 via Italy – to the consternation of people of every rank and role in society. From this initial breakout until its final retreat about 1720 the plague repeatedly ravaged European populations and altered government, the Church, society and economy everywhere. 

Michael Bloom is a founder member of the OSFAS executive committee and former vice-president of the Conference Board of Canada. Dr. Bloom is a graduate of the University of Oxford (DPhil) and Carleton University (BA, MA).

Douglas Moggach

The Early Renaissance
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an eyewitness of the Black Death that ravaged Europe around 1348. His Decameron, completed in 1353, contains vivid descriptions of the plague’s devastating effects in Florence. His book also contains reflections on the fragility of life, love, and human suffering that offer profound insights into his times.  These insights inspired Chaucer and Shakespeare, illustrating the emergence of modern ideas of the self and the world.

Douglas Moggach is a member of the OSFAS executive committee, holds a doctorate from Princeton University, and has held the University Research Chair in Political Thought at the University of Ottawa where he was named Distinguished University Professor in 2011. Honorary Fellow of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Professor Moggach was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2025. He has held visiting appointments at King’s College, Cambridge, Queen Mary University of London, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.