About: Plague of Cyprian Ravages the Empire (249)

When did the Plague of Cyprian start and end? Dates and phases (249–262)

The Plague of Cyprian ran from roughly 249/250 under Decius to an ebb by 262—possibly 263—under Gallienus. Contemporary anchors include Carthage in crisis by 252 and Dionysius of Alexandria’s Passover letter dated to Easter 262, marking the late phase.

Most historians bracket the Plague of Cyprian from its onset in Decius’s reign around 249/250 to its easing under Gallienus by 262–263. Outbreaks crested at different times across the empire: Carthage was in “mortality” by 252, while Dionysius of Alexandria describes a late, deadly phase anchored to Passover 262. The sources do not name a medical cause; they frame it morally while highlighting war, famine, and urban crowding that magnified deaths. Reconstructing the sequence yields four phases: onset under Decius, expansion under Gallus–Volusianus, continuance under Valerian, and a late peak followed by easing under Gallienus.

Key Factors

Start–end bracket (c. 249/250–262/263)

The epidemic begins under Decius and is still raging into Gallienus’s reign, with the main wave subsiding by 262 (some editors place the terminus in early 263). This range is reconstructed from contemporary letters rather than a single imperial notice.

Primary dating anchor: Passover 262

Dionysius of Alexandria writes during Gallienus’s “ninth year,” which editors calculate as Easter 262 (occasionally early 263). This is the clearest fixed point for the late, high-mortality phase at Alexandria.

Phased progression across reigns

Onset under Decius (c. 249–251), expansion under Gallus and Volusianus (251–253), and continuance through Valerian (253–260). A late crisis and subsequent easing occur under Gallienus (260–262/263).

Local attestations: Alexandria and Carthage

Dionysius describes Alexandria overwhelmed by death after war; Cyprian and Pontius depict Carthage in a deadly “mortality” by 252–253. These independent testimonies show wide geographic spread and staggered peaks.

No single empire-wide ‘start’ or decree of ‘end’

Ancient authors record waves and local conditions rather than an official timeline. Modern brackets therefore synthesize multiple letters and reign-year calculations.

Historical Evidence

""the bowels, relaxed into a constant flux... the intestines... with continual vomiting... the eyes... on fire with the injected blood""
— Cyprian, On the Mortality^[1]

""Now, indeed, everything is tears... there is not a house where there is not one dead." (HE 7.22)"
— Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History (Dionysius of Alexandria)^[2]

"Dionysius’s Passover letter, written when Gallienus was "now passing through his ninth year," is placed at Easter 262 (some at early 263)."
— C. L. Feltoe, St. Dionysius of Alexandria (dating note)^[3]

""there broke out a dreadful plague... invading every house in succession... numberless people [were] carried off day by day""
— Pontius the Deacon, Life and Passion of St. Cyprian, ch. 9^[5]

Part of Plague of Cyprian Ravages the Empire

This timeline situates the Plague of Cyprian Ravages the Empire (249) within the cascading crises of the third century—war, famine, persecution, and disease. Use it to link phases of the epidemic to the reigns of Decius, Gallus, Valerian, and Gallienus on the Crisis of the Third Century timeline.

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