Plague of Justinian

The Plague of Justinian (541–542 AD) was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), including its capital Constantinople. It has been claimed as one of the greatest plagues in history. The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic has been bubonic plague, but recent research has called this identification into question. A genetic study of the bacterium causing bubonic plague, based on samples taken from skeletal remains of 14th-century plague victims in London 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 strain that broke out in the 14th century pandemic, or from pathogens entirely unrelated to bubonic plague. The plague's social and cultural impact during the Justinian period has been compared to that of the Black Death. In the views of some 6th-century Western historians, the plague epidemic was nearly worldwide in scope, striking central and south Asia, North Africa and Arabia, and Europe, to Denmark and Ireland. Genetic studies point to China as having been the primary source of the contagion.

Throughout the Mediterranean basin, until about 750, the plague returned in each generation. The waves of disease had a major effect on the future course of European history. Modern historians named this plague incident after the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, who was in power at the time of the initial outbreak. He contracted the disease yet survived.