The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic that afflicted the Roman Empire about from AD 249 to 262.[1][2] The plague is thought to have caused widespread manpower shortages for food production and the Roman army, severely weakening the empire during the Crisis of the Third Century.[2][3][4] Its modern name commemorates St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, an early Christian writer who witnessed and described the plague.[2] The agent of the plague is highly speculative because of sparse sourcing, but suspects have included smallpox, pandemic influenza, and viral hemorrhagic fever (filoviruses) like the Ebola virus.[1][2]