ABSTRACT
The article considers the features of the impact of epidemics on the course of hostilities and the fate of the states of Antiquity. Three cases are presented as examples. The first one is related to the invasion of the Assyrian King Sennacherib in Judea and the attempt of his troops to take Jerusalem. The second case is related to the epidemic in Athens in the early years of the Peloponnesian war. The third one - with the epidemic in the Roman Empire in the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD. The analysis, based on information from extant sources, permitted to conclude that the intensity and destructive effect of epidemics in the Ancient World increased gradually. To this fact is attributed the effect of "closing" the Oikumena into a single whole. However, the degree of influence of epidemics on the fate of ancient states is greatly exaggerated by the historical tradition, which developed under the influence of emotional descriptions of the tragedies and mass deaths of people.
