The Plague of Justinian
The first recorded pandemic of bubonic plague kills perhaps a quarter of the Mediterranean world.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 8 years
- Known to
- ± 2 years
- Era
- Post-Classical, Holocene
Plague reaches Constantinople in 541 CE and recurs across the Mediterranean for two centuries. Procopius describes 10,000 deaths a day in the capital, certainly exaggerated but indicating catastrophe. Ancient DNA from sixth-century graves in Bavaria confirmed Yersinia pestis as the cause. It wrecks Justinian's attempt to reconquer the western empire, weakens both Byzantium and Persia, and arguably clears the way for the Arab conquests a century later.