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“There was a pestilence by which the whole human race came near to being annihilated”.
Procopius
“Homes are left empty, parents are forced to attend the funerals of their children, their heirs march before them to the grave”
Pope Gregory the Great
“the pestilence that carried off many throughout the length and breadth of Britain”
Bede
The first plague pandemic was unprecedented both in its geographical spread and duration. From the first recorded cases in Pelusium, Egypt in 541, it ravaged the lands of the Eastern Roman Empire, spreading into Italy, Gaul, Spain and Britain, to North Africa and East to Persia. Regular outbreaks continued for 200 years until the mid eighth century. Given this, it seems unbelievable that Plague: The End of Antiquity represents the first ever book on the subject. Much of the problem, of course, lies precisely with the vast range of the topic. The pandemic was no respecter of linguistic boundaries, and sources used are in Arabic, Syriac, Greek, Latin and Old Irish. Additionally, any serious study must necessarily involve and rely on archaeology, epidemiology and molecular biology and the editor of this volume freely admits that a single volume synthesis is beyond the ability of any one person. Instead a dazzling array of scholars from different disciplines were brought together for a series of conferences, resulting in this book.
After an introductory chapter, Jo N. Hays looks at the differing methodologies employed by historians studying epidemics, and the varying responses of societies to them. This comparative approach continues throughout the book: reference is made wherever appropriate to epidemics which have received better attention, particularly the Black Death, but also more modern disease outbreaks.
Subsequent chapters look at the epidemic regionally, both from historical and archaeological perspectives. An attempt is made to establish the extent of the plague, many of the authors responding to claims by Jean Durliat that the literary sources systematically exaggerated the effects of the plague. In so doing they call extensively upon archaeological evidence, looking at numbers of new building works, and the instability of Imperial coinage to argue that the effects of the plague are real and apparent in the material evidence from the period.
A further consequence of the lack of coverage previously devoted to the plague is that its historical impact has been seldom discussed. In these chapters this is thoroughly redressed. The book starts with the bold claim “Plague helped carry out Antiquity and usher in the Middle Ages”, and some of the ways in which this was so are drawn out. Peter Sarris uses mainly archaeological sources to show how labour shortages resulting from the epidemic, prompted attempts by the Byzantine state to tie people to the land. Dionysios Stathakopoulos examines the persecution of Jews, pagans and homosexuals under Justinian as a response to the perception of the plague as an expression of divine wrath. Other chapters look at the plague in Gaul, Spain, Anglo-Saxon England and Ireland.
The concluding section looks at the plague from the perspective of molecular biology. The two essays are admirably comprehensible to the non-specialist, setting out the methodology lucidly. They also draw further interesting conclusions as to the scale and effectiveness of the plague and look at possible consequences, such as large-scale de-urbanisation. Importantly some ideas are hazarded as to what caused the plague to stop after more than 200 years of devastation.
Also of interest:
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