The Pandemic That Nearly Brought Down An Empire

A Perfect Storm

Unfortunately, for the Emperor Justinian I (pictured above), he would reign over a perfect storm of factors that would result in an unprecedented outbreak of plague. The strange cold summer which devastated crops and livestock stocks left millions of people hungry and cold in a time where they should have been well fed under the heat of the summer sun.

Hunger, war, disease and instability are all factors that contribute to the mass migration and movement of people. The migration patterns of the northern tribes from Europe that disrupted and eventually brought down the Western Roman Empire continued to be a driving force of movement in the world during this time. Driven by hunger, crop loss, war and instability, thousands of people were on the roads in search of a more stable life.

At the same time, Constantinople was attempting to assert her dominance over the remaining territories that were still firmly under Eastern Roman control. The Emperor Justinian I planned on reigniting the glory of Rome though reforms and conquest. He demanded tribute, mostly in the form of grain, from the fertile places in the empire to feed Constantinople's population during this time.

Outside the empire, Justinian waged campaigns against the Ostrogoth Kingdom in Italy and the Vandal Kingdoms in northern Africa at huge expense. Within the empire, he was building massive churches, such as the Hagia Sophia. All of this was an attempt to rebuild the glory of the old Roman Empire with Constantinople as the Second Rome.

This put thousands of people in motion across the known world. Workers were imported to work on the massive construction projects within the capital. Soldiers marched and sailed from Anatolia, Greece and Palestine to distant lands. Tribute, trade and grain were redirected from old routes and defunct territories to flow through the Bosporus. All of which would contribute to the coming doom.