Editing Plague of Justinian (section)

{{Short description|541–549 AD in the Byzantine Empire, later northern Europe}}
{{About|the first episode of the First Plague Pandemic, 541{{endash}}549|the series of plague pandemics, 541{{endash}}767|First plague pandemic}}
{{Infobox pandemic
| name            = Plague of Justinian
| image           = Plaguet03.jpg
| alt             = see caption
| caption         = [[Saint Sebastian]] pleads with Jesus for the life of a gravedigger afflicted during the plague of Justinian. ([[Josse Lieferinxe]], {{circa}} 1497–1499)
| map1            = 
| legend1         = 
| disease         = [[Bubonic plague]]
| location        = Mediterranean basin, Europe, Near East
| date            = 541–549
| deaths          =  
| territories     = 
}}
[[File:Hand necrosis caused by plague.jpg|thumb|A characteristic of ''Yersinia pestis'' infection is [[necrosis]] of the hand. (photo from 1975 plague victim)]]
[[File:Byzantium550.png|thumb|A map of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in 550 (a decade after the Plague of Justinian) with Justinian's conquests shown in green]]

The '''plague of Justinian''' or '''Justinianic plague''' (AD 541–549) was an [[epidemic]] of [[Plague (disease)|plague]] that afflicted the entire [[Mediterranean basin|Mediterranean Basin]], Europe, and the [[Near East]], especially the [[Sasanian Empire]] and the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref name="Stathakopoulos">{{Citation|last=Stathakopoulos|first=Dionysios|title=Plague, Justinianic (Early Medieval Pandemic) |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-3757|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press |doi= 10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-866277-8 |access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref><ref name="Arrizabalaga">{{Citation |last=Arrizabalaga|first=Jon|title=plague and epidemics |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-4645|work=The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages|year=2010|editor-last=Bjork|editor-first=Robert E.|publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-866262-4|access-date=2020-05-16|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Floor |first1=Willem |title=Studies in the History of Medicine in Iran |date=2018 |publisher=Mazda Publishers |location=Costa Mesa, California|isbn=978-1933823942 |page=3 |quote=The Justinian plague (bubonic plague) also attacked the Sasanian lands.}}</ref> The plague is named for the Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian I]] (r. 527–565) who, according to his [[Court (royal)|court]] historian [[Procopius]], contracted the disease and recovered in 542, at the height of the epidemic which killed about a fifth of the population in the imperial capital [[Constantinople|Constantinople]].<ref name="Stathakopoulos" /><ref name="Arrizabalaga" /> The contagion arrived in [[Roman Egypt]] in 541, spread around the Mediterranean Sea until 544, and persisted in [[Northern Europe]] and the [[Arabian Peninsula]] until 549. By 543, the plague had spread to every corner of the empire.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meier |first1=Mischa |title=The Justianic Plague: The economic consequences of the pandemic in the Eastern Roman empire and its cultural and religious effects |date=August 2016 |journal=Early Medieval Europe |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=267–292 |doi=10.1111/emed.12152|s2cid=163966072 }}</ref><ref name="Stathakopoulos" /> 

The plague's severity and impact remain debated. Some scholars assert that as the first episode of the [[first plague pandemic]], it had profound economic, social, and political effects across Europe and the Near East and cultural and religious impact on Eastern Roman society.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gârdan |first1=Gabriel-Viorel |year=2020 |title="The Justinianic Plague": The Effects of a Pandemic in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. |url=https://web.s.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=23275707&AN=147708871&h=dHmlCVn8um6Fb8ouoGm4tCfGTAYzQiMrWCf%2BmJfrbUdVvotWc9LR%2BT9MDkHJrxj1cCqP6RuF0qy7%2FI9DxirX4Q%3D%3D&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3Fdirect%3Dtrue%26profile%3Dehost%26scope%3Dsite%26authtype%3Dcrawler%26jrnl%3D23275707%26AN%3D147708871 |journal=Romanian Journal of Artistic Creativity |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=3–18 |access-date=26 January 2023}}</ref> Others reject the cataclysmic view, arguing for a limited impact.

In 2013, researchers confirmed earlier speculation that the cause of the plague of Justinian was ''[[Yersinia pestis]]'', the same bacterium responsible for the [[Black Death]] (1346–1353).<ref>{{cite web|title=Modern lab reaches across the ages to resolve plague DNA debate|url=http://phys.org/news/2013-05-modern-lab-ages-plague-dna.html|date=May 20, 2013|website=phys.org}}
*{{cite web|title=Plague DNA found in ancient teeth shows medieval Black Death, 1,500-year pandemic caused by same disease|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/28/plague-dna-found-in-ancient-teeth-shows-medieval-black-death-1500-year-pandemic-caused-by-same-disease/|author=Maria Cheng|date=January 28, 2014|work=[[National Post]]}}</ref> Ancient and modern ''Yersinia pestis'' [[Strain (biology)|strains]] are closely related to the ancestor of the Justinian plague strain that has been found in the [[Tian Shan]], a system of mountain ranges on the borders of [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[China]], suggesting that the Justinian plague originated in or near that region.<ref name="Eroshenko">{{cite journal|last1=Eroshenko|first1=Galina A.|display-authors=etal|date=October 26, 2017|title=''Yersinia pestis'' strains of ancient phylogenetic branch 0.ANT are widely spread in the high-mountain plague foci of Kyrgyzstan |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=12 |issue=10 |pages=e0187230 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1287230E |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0187230 |pmc=5658180 |pmid=29073248 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Damgaard">{{cite journal |last1=Damgaard |first1=Peter de B. |display-authors=etal |date=May 9, 2018 |title=137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes |journal=Nature |volume=557 |issue=7705 |pages=369–374 |pmid=29743675 |bibcode=2018Natur.557..369D |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2 |hdl=1887/3202709 |s2cid=13670282 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> However, there would appear to be no mention of bubonic plague in China until the year 610.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarris |first1=Peter |title=The Justinianic plague: origins and effects |date=August 2002 |journal=Continuity and Change |page=171 |volume=17 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/S0268416002004137 |s2cid=144954310 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F48D7B45421836E3F25613CF68EE6F30/S0268416002004137a.pdf/the-justinianic-plague-origins-and-effects.pdf |access-date=7 December 2023}}</ref>