Justinian's Plague: The Pandemic That Reshaped Constantinople

In 541 AD, a mysterious illness struck the port of Pelusium in Egypt and spread northward, reaching Constantinople by spring 542. Within months, the Plague of Justinian—caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium behind the Black Death—killed perhaps a quarter of the city's population. Emperor Justinian himself fell ill but survived, while his great projects, from the Hagia Sophia to the reconquest of Italy, teetered on the brink. In this episode, we examine the plague's origins, its horrific symptoms as recorded by the historian Procopius, its demographic and economic devastation, and its long-term consequences for the Byzantine Empire. We also unpack the controversies: Was the plague a single event or a series of waves? How did the empire's grain shipments from Alexandria become a vector? And why did the plague mark a turning point in Byzantine history, weakening the state just as it faced new threats from Slavs, Avars, and Persians? Join us as we explore the pandemic that nearly broke the backbone of the Roman Empire in the East.

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