Plague of Justinian

The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic of the bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It happened during the years of 541 to 542 in the Byzantine Empire while under the rule of Justinian I. Historians estimate that this pandemic killed as many as 100 million people across the world, partly because it returned every twelve years until 770, when it stopped for about 500 years.

Between 541 and 700, the Plague of Justinian killed about half of the people in Europe. It also may have contributed to the success of the Muslim conquests. Its social and cultural impact is comparable to that of the Black Death.

Origin and impact

Through trade, the plague came from India to Ethiopia or Egypt. Eventually, trade ships brought the plague north to the large city of Constantinople. Ships bringing grain, which Constantinople imported, carried rats along with them. These rats carried the plague. By the end of the pandemic, the plague had killed 40% of Constantinople's population. At its worst, it killed 10,000 people in Constantinople every day.

Doctors at the time relied on religious and folk remedies which were not effective in treating the plague. This caused the plague to spread rapidly throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. In total, about 25 million people died because of the Plague of Justinian. It is said to have contributed to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, because it killed farmers and caused famine. Also, the empire relied on tax money, and the plague killed many taxpayers.Overall, the Plague of Justinian was a sickness that happened around 1,500 years ago. It started in the city of Constantinople and spread to other parts of the world. Many people got sick and some even died. The disease was caused by bacteria and was spread by fleas on rats. It lasted for several years and caused a lot of damage to the Byzantine Empire by weakening its defenses, harming its economy, and killing large amounts of its population. Even though it was a long time ago, we can still learn from this event and take precautions to prevent the spread of diseases today.

Plague Of Justinian Media

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  A characteristic of Yersinia pestis infection is necrosis of the hand. (Photo from 1975 plague victim)

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  A map of the Byzantine Empire in 550 (a decade after the Plague of Justinian) with Justinian's conquests shown in green

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  Incomplete basilica in Philippi; its construction is believed to have been halted by the Plague of Justinian.

Sources

• Edward Walford, translator, The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius: A History of the Church from AD 431 to AD 594, 1846. Reprinted 2008. Evolution Publishing, ISBN 978-1-889758-88-6. [1] Archived 2015-06-07 at the Wayback Machine—The author, Evagrius, was himself stricken by the plague as a child and lost several family members to it.
• Procopius. History of the Wars, Books I and II (The Persian War). Trans. H. B. Dewing. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1954.—Chapters XXII and XXIII of Book II (pages 451–473) are Procopius's famous description of the Plague of Justinian. This includes the famous 10,000 people dead a day in Constantinople statistic (page 465).
• Little, Lester K., ed., Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541–750, Cambridge, 2006. ISBN 0-521-84639-0.
• Rosen, William. Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe, Viking Adult, 2007. ISBN 978-0-670-03855-8.