End of Antiquity – The denouement of a pandemic

It was May 11th, 330 AD, the day when the Roman emperor, Constantine the great would dedicate and rename the newly-worked-on Greek city of Byzantium Constantinople; for it to remain the largest and most prosperous city of Europe for almost a thousand years.  It soon became a hub of trade, especially spices that were flowing into Europe from Asia. Although Constantine-I could not feast on his ‘Nova Roma’, Constantinople never stopped growing. Byzantium, in the view of its inhabitants, was none other than the Roman empire, founded by their great king with God’s grace. Bestowed with overflowing treasure and prosperity,  the people of Constantinople believed that they were living in a paradise, coloured by their pride in their Christian and Roman heritage. A change in this was not foreseen.

But destiny had something else in store for the Byzantines – an era to follow, so dark that it would end the world as it was known, marking the beginning of another and in its course consume millions of lives, leaving an indelible scar in the history of time.

Petrus Sabbastius was born to a peasant family in Tauresium, Dardania. His mother Vigilantia, was the sister of Justin, a commander of one imperial guard unit of Emperor Anastasius. Justin brought Petrus to the city of Constantinople and ensured the boy’s education. He did well in jurisprudence, theology and Roman history. He adopted the name Justinian after his uncle and helped him significantly in proclaiming the throne of Constantinople, after the death of Emperor Anastasius. Eventually, he rose through the ranks to become the sole sovereign of the Byzantine empire, upon the death of his uncle, Justin. He called himself Flavius Petrus Sabbastius Justinian or Justinian-I.

Justinian-I was a prolific ruler and achieved long-lasting fame because of his judicial reforms and legislations. He was noted for his administrative reorganisation of the imperial government and for his sponsorship of the codification of laws, famously known as the Code of Justinian. His military campaigns to the east as well as west were mostly successful. The empire of Byzantium under emperor Justinian-I had expanded far across North Africa, southern France, Italy and Spain, and was on its way to re-establish the golden era of the Roman Empire. His reformations for the safety of women were commendable; the introduction of laws against forced prostitution and protection of women from any kind of sexual assault gained him adulation from the masses. Byzantines were enjoying the prosperity and security in the city they believed to be blessed by God.

During 530 AD, it seemed like God had abandoned this heaven on earth. Natural disasters struck the Byzantine empire one after another. The sun was shining but without any light or warmth. According to the historian Procopius, “It seemed like the sun was ever under an eclipse”. Crops failed and famine swept the whole Byzantine Empire. It was nothing like anything that had hitherto come upon Middle eastern Asia and Europe. The first great pestilence – an outbreak of bubonic plague popularly known as the Plague of Justinian, followed.

The Plague of Justinian earned the reputation of being the first pandemic humanity had ever seen. Being a hub of trade in Europe and having ports on both the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, Constantinople saw a large number of ships from various port cities across the then-known world. The Byzantine empire was always dependent on the food grains of North Africa. Times were hard with famine raising the demand for food grains. Ships from Alexandria carried food grains to the port of Constantinople. However, on a fateful day, a disease came with the ships which would later wreak havoc across the country, killing 25 million people. The plague had come to the port and it was only a matter of time before it spread across the inner country lands.

The Byzantine historian Procopius identified the beginning of the Pelusium, near the northern and eastern shores of the Nile. It was believed to have been spread by the black rats. Though the black rats do not venture more than 200 metres from their birthplace during their lifetime, it was large granaries maintained by the government that fed the rats, only to later transport them to other parts of the country in ships or grain carts. Procopius also noted that the lower than average temperatures in southern Italy coupled with the depletion of sunshine resulted in a cold snap accompanied by social disruptions like war and the first recorded outbreak of the plague. The cold weather, food shortages and war activities had people moving throughout the country. These migrants were accompanied by the plague-infected flea-ridden rats. Cold, exhausted and famished people harbouring illness amidst a war, forged the perfect conditions for a pandemic. And what a pandemic it would be.

In the world of antiquity, however, it was understood as nothing more than a catastrophic act of God. Traumatised people resorted to different rituals to please God. There were smashing of pots and other rituals to clear the atmosphere invoking positive energy. While these rituals continued, the pandemic was consuming nothing less than 5000 to 10000 human lives daily in the city itself. According to another historian, John of Ephesus, there were villages where inhabitants perished altogether. As if it was like the wrath of God unleashed on humans that people were dying like beasts.

The plague had an overarching reverberation on the economical, administrative and military framework of the empire. The population was dramatically reduced. According to some historians, the population of Constantinople alone was reduced by 40 per cent and a quarter of the population to the east of the Mediterranean is believed to have perished. Consequently, it meant a lack of food as the empire was primarily agrarian. To add to this was the impact of previous famines from which the city had not recovered yet and a significant decline in the amount of taxes paid. Sustaining a military became strenuous for the emperor.

By 568 AD, northern Italy was invaded by a Germanic tribe called the Lombards. Over the decades, the plague weakened both the Roman and the Persian empire so much so that the armies that remained in the places free of the plague could conquer parts of Mesopotamia, North Africa, Spain and most of Asia minor. While many other factors led to the fall of the Byzantine empire, the plague crippled it to an extent where the empire could never regain its lost glory; slowly walked towards its complete extinction. Even if during the 10th and 11th century AD, the empire managed to revive itself under the Macedonians, the scars left by the plague could never be obliterated. The Plague of Justinian thus marked the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages.