Editing Locust (section)

===Ancient times===

[[File:Maler der Grabkammer des Horemhab 002.jpg|thumb|Locust detail from a hunt mural in the grave-chamber of [[Horemhab]], [[Ancient Egypt]], ''circa'' 1422–1411 BC]]

Study of literature shows how pervasive plagues of locusts were over the course of history. The insects arrived unexpectedly, often after a change of wind direction or weather, and the consequences were devastating. The Ancient Egyptians carved locusts on tombs in the period 2470 to 2220 BC. A devastating plague in Egypt is mentioned in the [[Book of Exodus]] in the Bible.<ref name=Krall453>{{cite book|author1=Krall, S.|author2=Peveling, R.|author3=Diallo, B.D. |title=New Strategies in Locust Control |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s6ndBQiTiRAC&pg=PA453 |year=1997 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-7643-5442-8 |pages=453–454}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Book of Exodus |at=10: 13–15 |quote=And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.  14 And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.  15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.}}</ref> Locust plague is mentioned in the Indian ''[[Mahabharata]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRzcSZPahZ0C&q=locusts+mahabharata&pg=PA93 |title=The Mahabharata |date=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-310016-4 |page=93}}</ref> The ''[[Iliad]]'' mentions locusts taking to the wing to escape fire.<ref>{{cite web |author=Homer |title=Iliad 21.1 |website=Perseus Tufts |access-date=16 August 2017 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D1}}</ref> Plagues of locusts are mentioned in the Quran.<ref name=Showler>{{cite book |editor=John L. Capinera |year=2008 |title=Encyclopedia of Entomology |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=978-1-4020-6242-1 |chapter=Desert locust, ''Schistocerca gregaria'' Forskål (Orthoptera: Acrididae) plagues |author= Showler, Allan T. |pages=1181–1186 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i9ITMiiohVQC&pg=PA118}}</ref> In the ninth century BC, the Chinese authorities appointed anti-locust officers.<ref name=Spinage2012/> In the [[New Testament]], John the Baptist was said to survive in the wilderness on locusts and wild honey; and human-headed locusts appear in the [[Book of Revelation]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Revelation 9:7 - King James Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%209%3A7&version=KJV |access-date=2021-12-26 |website=Bible Gateway}}</ref>

[[Aristotle]] studied locusts and their breeding habits and [[Livy]] recorded a devastating plague in [[Capua]] in 203 BC. He mentioned human epidemics following locust plagues which he associated with the stench from the putrifying corpses; the linking of human disease outbreaks to locust plagues was widespread. A pestilence in the northwestern provinces of China in 311 AD that killed 98% of the population locally was blamed on locusts, and may have been caused by an increase in numbers of [[rat]]s (and their [[flea]]s) that devoured the locust carcasses.<ref name="Spinage2012">{{cite book |last=McNeill |first=William H. |title=Plagues and Peoples |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-385-12122-4 |page=146}}</ref>