Plague of Justinian

(noun)

A pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, especially its capital, Constantinople, the Sassanid Empire, and port cities around the entire Mediterranean Sea (541–542). One of the greatest plagues in history, this devastating pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 to 50 million people. It is generally regarded as the first recorded instance of bubonic plague.

Related Terms

Examples of Plague of Justinian in the following topics:

  • Kingdom of Aksum

    • The Kingdom of Aksum was a trading nation in the area of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea that existed from approximately 100 to 940 CE.
    • By 350, Aksum conquered the Kingdom of Kush.
    • It is also possible that Ethiopia was affected by the Plague of Justinian around this time, a disease thought to be the first recorded instance of bubonic plague.
    • During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the Kingdom of Aksum continued to expand their control of the southern Red Sea basin.
    • The Stelae have most of their mass out of the ground, but are stabilized by massive underground counter-weights.

  • Justinian and Theodora

    • By 540 CE, most of Italy was in Justinian's hands.
    • Theodora was empress of the Byzantine Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian I.
    • A terrible plague swept through the empire, killing Theodora and almost killing him.
    • The plague wiped out huge numbers of the empire's population, leaving villages empty and crops unharvested.
    • Byzantine Emperor Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.

  • The Justinian Code

    • Justinian I achieved lasting fame through his judicial reforms, particularly through the complete revision of all Roman law that was compiled in what is known today as the Corpus juris civilis.
    • The total of Justinian's legislature is known today as the Corpus juris civilis.
    • Nonetheless, Justinian found himself having to enact further laws and today these are counted as a fourth part of the Corpus, the Novellae Constitutiones.
    • The work was directed by Tribonian, an official in Justinian's court.
    • A later copy of Justinian's Digesta: Digestorum, seu Pandectarum libri quinquaginta.

  • The Black Death

    • The Black Death was an infamous pandemic of bubonic plague and one of the most devastating pandemics in human history.
    • In the autumn of 1346, plague broke out among the besiegers and then penetrated into the town.
    • The thought the only way to be rid of the plague was to be forgiven by God.
    • The aftermath of the plague created a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history.
    • Plague brought an eventual end of serfdom in Western Europe.

  • Emperor Heracluis

    • However, only Justinian I attempted to enforce this claim with military might.
    • However, after Justinian's death, much of newly recovered Italy fell to the Lombards, and the Visigoths soon reduced the imperial holdings in Spain.
    • Thus, after the death of Justinian's successor Tiberius II, Maurice sought to restore the prestige of the Empire.
    • The Senate approved Phocas as the new Emperor and Maurice, the last emperor of the Justinian Dynasty, was murdered along with his four sons.
    • Most of the inhabitants of these provinces were Monophysites who rejected the Council of Chalcedon.

  • Crises of the Roman Empire

    • The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.
    • The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, (CE 235–284) was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.
    • Additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale death, possibly weakened the ability of the Empire to defend itself.
    • When Claudius died in 270 of the plague, Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire.
    • One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome's extensive internal trade network.

  • Introduction to the Peloponnesian War

    • Their victory was short-lived, however, because in 430 BCE, an outbreak of plague hit Athens, ravaging the densely packed city and wiping out over 30,000 citizens, sailors, and soldiers, amounting to roughly one-third to two-thirds of the Athenian population.
    • As a result, Athenian manpower was drastically reduced, and due to widespread fears of plague, foreign mercenaries refused to hire themselves out to Athens.
    • Pericles and his sons perished as a result of plague, and in the aftermath, Athenians turned against Pericles’s defensive strategy in favor of a more aggressive one that would bring war directly to Sparta and its allies.
    • In return, the Spartans raised an army of allies and helots and marched the length of Greece to the Athenian colony of Amphipolis, which controlled several nearby silver mines.
    • The Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BCE, concluding the first phase of the war.

  • Byzantium's Legacy

    • The preservation of the ancient civilization in Europe was due to the skill and resourcefulness of Byzantine diplomacy, which remains one of Byzantium's lasting contributions to the history of Europe.
    • In the field of law, Justinian I's reforms to the legal code would come to serve as the basis of not only Byzantine law but law in many European countries and continues to have a major influence on public international law to this day.
    • The migration waves of Byzantine scholars and émigrés in the period following the sacking of Constantinople and the fall of Constantinople in 1453 is considered by many scholars key to the revival of Greek and Roman studies that led to the development of the Renaissance humanism and science.
    • Distribution of Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world by country as of 2012.
    • An artist restructured photo of what the city of Constantinople looked like during the Byzantine era.

  • The Spanish Habsburgs

    • However, Spain as a unified state came into being de jure only after the death of Charles II in 1700, the last ruler of Spain of the Habsburg dynasty.
    • Faced with wars against England, France, and the Netherlands, the Spanish government found that neither the New World silver nor steadily increasing taxes were enough to cover their expenses, and went bankrupt again in 1596. furthermore, the great plague of 1596–1602 killed 600,000 to 700,000 people, or about 10% of the population.
    • Altogether more than 1,250,000 deaths resulted from the extreme incidence of plague in 17th-century Spain.
    • Economically, the plague destroyed the labor force as well as creating a psychological blow to an already problematic Spain.
    • Much of the policy was conducted by the minister Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares.

  • Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

    • Facing the pressures of civil war, plague, invasion, and economic depression, Diocletian was able to stabilize the Roman empire for another hundred years through economic reform and the establishment of the Tetrarchy.
    • Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus.
    • Diocletian's reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century.
    • Under this "tetrarchy," or "rule of four," each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire.
    • Each emperor had his zone of influence within the Roman Empire, but this influence mainly applied to the theatre of war.