Plague in Byzantine Times: A Historical and Medical Study

 The  lack of reliable demographic data for Byzantine cities raises questions  as to the actual rate of expansion and mortality of plague. This  essentially leads to the question of change and progress of the nature  of infectious diseases in that period. Also, the analysis of the written  sources raised a series of questions, mainly epidemiological in nature:  the entry points and spreading of the disease in the Mediterranean, the  epidemic dynamics as well as the evolution of the microbial agent of  plague, i.e. Yersinia pestis. The present study offers a substantial  explanation for the outbreaks of plague that struck Byzantium by  exploring the multiple factors that caused or triggered epidemics. The  study covers the entire period extending from the beginning of the  Byzantine Empire until its fall in 1453, which was marked by two major  pandemics, namely the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death. All known  primary sources were collected and grouped from a spatiotemporal  perspective, so as to retrace the unfolding of the two pandemics. The  focus of the research shifts from known historical frameworks to ones of  human activities, endemic foci and natural environment of the era as  risk factors of the outbreaks.