Last update:
16-Sep-2021

During the reign of Emperor Justinian, Byzantium experienced the first of the three major recorded plague epidemics to affect mankind. In the spring of 542 AD the plague, or Justinian's plague, as it was later named, struck the capital of the Byzantine state, ten months after its initial appearance in Pelusium, in Egypt. A series of extreme weather events that had preceded the plague in the Mediterranean region were considered to be the predisposing factor by the populace. Its transmission through Palestine to the territories of the Byzantine Empire was mainly due to the movement of troops and commercial activities. The epidemic in Byzantium (present day Istanbul) lasted four months and its severity was at its worst for about three months. Mortality was particularly high, and perinatal mortality was high, and it is estimated that half of the population of the capital died, with the emperor himself contracting the disease. Although the initial symptomatology was common and mild in all cases, further development differed in different people, causing confusion in the medical community. No specific prophylactic or therapeutic measures against the disease are recorded. The consequences of the epidemic were painful for the state, not only because of the sudden fall in population, but also because of the famine and subsequent starvation, the decline in agricultural production, the abandonment of land and the use of mercenaries to repopulate the army. The disease was not eradicated by the state, but continued to be present, although not in epidemic form until the year 746.

Key words: Byzantine medicine, Byzantium, Justinian, Pandemic, Plague.