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Dubrovnik’s Invention of the Quarantine and the Transfer of Knowledge about the Spread of Epidemics

It is rather well-known fact that the concept of the modern quarantine was “invented” in Dubrovnik. Although the modern quarantine and rules governing patient isolation are subject to the judgement of physicians and epidemiologists, in medieval Dubrovnik the first quarantine was the result of purely empirical observation and the experience of several disastrous plague outbreaks. Namely, in 1377, Dubrovnik’s authorities proclaimed an ordinance against the spread of disease without any medical knowledge about contagions. Moreover, in subsequent decades, they elaborated these measures to create the first (public) health office by the end of the 14 th century. Dubrovnik’s anti-plague measures were rather quickly adopted throughout the Mediterranean, and and even further elaborated, so in the mid-15 th century Venice prolonged the isolation period from the original 30 to 40 days (quaranta), which consequently bequeathed its name to this particular preventive isolation to combat the plague. In the following centuries this concept of the quarantine was widely applied, especially to prevent spread of epidemics across the borders with the Ottoman Empire.

quarantine, anti-plague measures, epidemics, plague, Dubrovnik, transfer of knowledge

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