Interpretations of Justinian plague
- Constantinople, May 542. According to Caesar's Procope, the plague ignited two years earlier in Ethiopia reached the capital of the Byzantine empire...
In four months, it caused 300,000 deaths, about half of the city's population. In addition to Bizantzio, pneumonic plague affected several regions of Europe, Asia and Africa, resulting in the deaths of between 25 and 50 million people, between 13 and 26% of the world's population at the time. Thus, it was one of the most serious pandemics of all time.
New technologies and discoveries have challenged this version in recent times. On the one hand, research indicates that plague originated in China. On the other hand, recently, by investigating the DNA fingerprints of the bacterium Yersinia Pestis, we've known that the pest came to the British Isles before Constantinople. This means that the disease spread more rapidly and violently in the north than in the Mediterranean. Or, in other words, it had a less than expected influence in the Byzantine Empire.
This conclusion was reached by historian Jean Durliat in 1989. According to Durliat, it was very difficult to carry out a general analysis of the plague, as it required a broad and varied analysis of the geographical and cultural scope. Durliat himself worked hard on this by analyzing, in addition to texts, works of art and archaeological, epigraphic, paleographic and numismatic sources, and concluded that the disaster caused by the plague was not so long.
New technologies have alleviated the difficulties of studying so many sources. In recent years, among other things, researchers have wanted to measure the weight of the plague using search engines. Thus, in the years 2019 and 2020 several studies were published that coincide with the interpretation of Durliat: They have come to say that it was a “minor” pandemic, “similar to current flu outbreaks.”
Recently, Cambridge University historian Peter Sarris published another study in the journal Pilot & Present. He criticizes the scepticism of recent studies. For example, it indicates that through search engines the number of sources does, but that quality is not taken into account. “The pandemic influenced social structures, the distribution of economic resources and also mentalities. And since that day we have a lot to learn.”
Therefore, for the time being, new discoveries and data, despite having helped to resolve any doubts, have served, mainly, to feed extreme interpretations.
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