Plague of Justinian
Plague of Justinian
Plague of Justinian
1 Cause
The Plague of Justinian is generally regarded as the rst
recorded[9] instance of bubonic plague. This conclusion
is based on the historical description of the clinical man-
ifestations during the epidemic[10] and the detection of
Y. pestis DNA from human remains at ancient grave sites
A characteristic of the Plague of Justinian was necrosis of the
dated to that period.[11][12] A genetic study of the bac-
hand
terium causing bubonic plague based on samples taken
from the remains of 14th-century plague victims in Lon-
don and a survey of other samples suggests that the Plague
of Justinian and others from antiquity arose from either
now-extinct strains of Yersinia pestis genetically distinct
from the 14th-century strain or came from pathogens en-
tirely unrelated to bubonic plague.[13][14] However, fur-
ther work by the same researchers noted that the spread
of several unusual modern variants of plague worldwide
can be dated to an evolutionary radiation event approxi-
mately coinciding with the Plague of Justinian, support-
A map of the Byzantine Empire in 550 (a decade after the Plague ing the notion that it was caused by a strain of bubonic
of Justinian) with Justinians conquests shown in green plague.[12][15]
1
2 4 SEE ALSO
Thucydides, recorded that at its peak the plague Saxon sources from this period are silent, as there are no
was killing 10,000 people in Constantinople daily, but 6th-century English documents.
the accuracy of the gure is in question, and the true The Romano-British may have been disproportionately
number will probably never be known. He noted that aected because of trade contacts with Gaul and other
because there was no room to bury the dead, bodies factors,[23] such as British settlement patterns being more
were left stacked in the open. Funeral rites were often dispersive than English ones, which could have served to
left unattended to, and the entire city smelled like the facilitate plague transmission by the rat.[24] The dier-
dead.[19] In his Secret History, he records the devastation ential eects may have been exaggerated. British sources
in the countryside and reports the ruthless response by
were then more likely to report natural disasters than
the hard-pressed Justinian: Saxon ones. In addition, the evidence for artifact trade
between the British and the English implies signicant
When pestilence swept through the whole interaction and just minimal interaction would surely
known world and notably the Roman Empire, have involved a high risk of plague transmission.[24]
wiping out most of the farming community and However, scholars (like L. Lester in their Plague and the
of necessity leaving a trail of desolation in its End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541750), as evidence
wake, Justinian showed no mercy towards the that the plague damage done on the Sub-Roman Britons
ruined freeholders. Even then, he did not re- was greater than the one suered by the Anglo-Saxons,
frain from demanding the annual tax, not only believe that the sudden disappearance around 560 AD of
the amount at which he assessed each individ- the important Roman town of Calleva[25] was probably
ual, but also the amount for which his deceased due to the Plague of Justinian, which later created a kind
neighbors were liable.[7] of curse on the city damned by the Anglo-Saxons.[26]
5 Notes [15] Bos, Kirsten; Stevens, Philip; Nieselt, Kay; Poinar, Hen-
drik N.; Dewitte, Sharon N.; Krause, Johannes (28
[1] The Sixth-Century Plague November 2012). Gilbert, M. Thomas P, ed. "Yersinia
pestis: New Evidence for an Old Infection. PLoS
[2] Rosen, William (2007), Justinians Flea: Plague, Empire, ONE. 7 (11): e49803. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...749803B.
and the Birth of Europe. Viking Adult; pg 3; ISBN 978- doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049803. PMC 3509097 .
0-670-03855-8. PMID 23209603.
[3] The Plague of Justinian. History Magazine. 11 (1): 9 [16] John of Ephesus, Ecclesiastical History, part 2. Transla-
12. 2009. tion of relevant portions here.
[4] Modern lab reaches across the ages to resolve plague
[17] Evagrius, Historia Ecclesiae, IV.29.
DNA debate. phys.org. May 20, 2013.
[18] Procopius, Persian War II.2223.
[5] Maria Cheng (January 28, 2014). Plague DNA found
in ancient teeth shows medieval Black Death, 1,500-year [19] Procopius: The Plague, 542
pandemic caused by same disease. National Post.
[20] Justinian, Edict IX.3; J. Moorhead 1994; Averil Cameron,
[6] Christakos, George; Olea, Ricardo A.; Serre, Marc L.;
The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, AD 395600,
Yu, Hwa-Lung; Wang, Lin-Lin (2005). Interdisciplinary
1993:111.
Public Health Reasoning and Epidemic Modelling: the
Case of Black Death. Springer. pp. 11014. ISBN 3- [21] Rosen, William. Justinians Flea: Plague, Empire, and the
540-25794-2. Birth of Europe. Viking Adult, 2007. Pg. 321322. ISBN
978-0-670-03855-8.
[7] Procopius, Anekdota, 23.20f.
[8] Nicholas Wade (October 31, 2010). Europes Plagues [22] John S. Wacher (1974, pp. 414422); J.C. Russell (1958,
Came From China, Study Finds. The New York Times. pp. 7199).
Retrieved 2010-11-01.
[23] Josiah C. Russell, Medieval Demography, New York,
[9] Russell, Josiah C. (1968), That earlier plague, Demog- AMS, 1987, p. 123.
raphy, 5: 174184, doi:10.1007/bf03208570
[24] Neville Brown, History and Climate Change: An Eurocen-
[10] Procopius, History of the Wars, 7 Vols., trans. H. B. tric Perspective, Routledge, London, 2001, p.9495.
Dewing, Loeb Library of the Greek and Roman Classics,
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914), [25] End of Calleva Atrebatum
Vol. I, pp. 451473.
[26] Curse on Calleva
[11] Wiechmann I, Grupe G. Detection of Yersinia pestis
DNA in two early medieval skeletal nds from Aschheim [27] Cyril A. Mango, Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome
(Upper Bavaria, 6th century A.D.)" Am J Phys Anthropol (1980) emphasizes the demographic eects; Mark Whit-
2005 Jan;126(1) 4855 tow, Ruling the late Roman and Byzantine city, Past and
Present 33 (1990) argues against too great reliance on lit-
[12] Harbeck, Michaela; Seifert, Lisa; Hnsch, Stephanie; erary sources.
Wagner, David M.; Birdsell, Dawn; Parise, Katy L.;
Wiechmann, Ingrid; Grupe, Gisela; Thomas, Astrid; [28] Bos KI, Stevens P, Nieselt K, Poinar HN, Dewitte
Keim, P; Zller, L; Bramanti, B; Riehm, JM; Scholz, HC SN, Krause J (2012). "Yersinia pestis: New evidence
(2013). Besansky, Nora J, ed. "Yersinia pestis DNA from for an old infection. PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e49803.
Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals In- doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049803. PMC 3509097 .
sights into Justinianic Plague. PLoS Pathogens. 9 (5): PMID 23209603.
e1003349. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003349. PMC
3642051 . PMID 23658525.
[13] McGrath, Matt (12 October 2011). Black Death Genetic 6 References
Code 'Built'". BBC World Service. Retrieved 12 October
2011. Harbeck, M; Seifert, L; Hnsch, S; Wagner, DM;
Birdsell, D; et al. (2013). "Yersinia pestis DNA from
[14] Bos, Kirsten; Schuenemann, Verena J.; Golding, G. Brian;
Burbano, Hernn A.; Waglechner, Nicholas; Coombes,
Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals
Brian K.; McPhee, Joseph B.; Dewitte, Sharon N.; Meyer, Insights into Justinianic Plague. PLoS Pathog. 9
Matthias; Schmedes, Sarah; Wood, James; Earn, David J. (5): e1003349. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003349.
D.; Herring, D. Ann; Bauer, Peter; Poinar, Hendrik N.; PMC 3642051 . PMID 23658525.
Krause, Johannes (12 October 2011). A draft genome of
Yersinia pestis from victims of the Black Death. Nature. Drancourt, M; Roux, V; Dang, LV; Tran-Hung,
478 (7370): 506510. Bibcode:2011Natur.478..506B. L; Castex, D; Chenal-Francisque, V; et al.
doi:10.1038/nature10549. PMC 3690193 . PMID Genotyping, Orientalis-like Yersinia pestis, and
21993626. plague pandemics. Emerging Infectious Diseases.
4 6 REFERENCES
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