In 250 the Gothic king Cniva led an army of Goths and Carpi into the Roman province of Moesia, crossing the Danube at Oescus (near the south eastern corner of Dacia). The invaders split into two columns, with the one under Cniva attacking Novae and Nicopolis ad Istrum and the other column advancing on Philippopolis in Thrace. The Roman emperor Decius responded to the threat and drove Cniva from Nicopolis, but was unable to prevent the two Gothic columns combining to sack Philippopolis.
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In around Easter 250 a new plague—possibly a viral hemorrhagic fever like Ebola—appeared in Ethiopia and soon spread to Egypt, devastating the population of Alexandria. By mid 251 it was in Rome, where it reportedly killed as many as 5,000 people a day at its peak. Lasting for perhaps 20 years, the plague claimed the lives of the emperors Hostilian and Claudius Gothicus, compelled people to flee the cities for the countryside, and led to the collapse of trade and agricultural production. Among the few beneficiaries of the disaster was the nascent Christian church, which provided care for the ill and spoke of rewards in the afterlife.
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