Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541-750Plague was a key factor in the waning of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Eight centuries before the Black Death, a pandemic of plague engulfed the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and eventually extended as far east as Persia and as far north as the British Isles. Its persisted sporadically from 541 to 750, the same period that witnessed the distinctive shaping of the Byzantine Empire, a new prominence of the Roman papacy and of monasticism, the beginnings of Islam and the meteoric expansion of the Arabic Empire, the ascent of the Carolingian dynasty in Frankish Gaul and, not coincidentally, the beginnings of a positive work ethic in the Latin West. In this volume, the first on the subject, twelve scholars from a variety of disciplines-history, archaeology, epidemiology, and molecular biology- have produced a comprehensive account of the pandemic's origins, spread, and mortality, as well as its economic, social, political, and religious effects. The historians examine written sources in a range of languages, including Arabic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, and Old Irish. Archaeologists analyze burial pits, abandoned villages, and aborted building projects. The epidemiologists use the written sources to track the disease's means and speed of transmission, the mix of vulnerability and resistance it encountered, and the patterns of reappearence over time. Finally, molecular biologists, newcomers to this kind of investigation, have become pioneers of paleopathology, seeking ways to identity pathogens in human remains from the remote past. |
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Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 33 |
Section 3 | 59 |
Section 4 | 87 |
Section 5 | 99 |
Section 6 | 119 |
Section 7 | 135 |
Section 8 | 150 |
Section 9 | 171 |
Section 10 | 215 |
Section 11 | 231 |
Section 12 | 290 |
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Common terms and phrases
according ancient appear areas argued authors Bede Black Death bubonic plague building burial Byzantine called caused Chronicle Chronique de Michel church communities Constantinople continued course decline described died discussed disease earlier early East effects Egypt England Europe evidence example famine first fleas followed given Gregory of Tours History houses human important Incerti auctoris India infection Ireland Irish Italy John of Ephesus Justinianic Plague king late later least less Lives major medieval monasteries mortality natural Northumbria noted observed occur origin outbreak pandemic pattern perhaps period Persian peste pestis plague epidemics pneumonic population possible probably Procopius question reached recent record reference regions remains reported response Roman rural says seems settlements seventh sixth century sources spread suggested Syria third victims Yersinia
References to this book
Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires Walter Scheidel Limited preview - 2009 |
The End: Natural Disasters, Manmade Catastrophes, and the Future of Human ... Marq de Villiers No preview available - 2008 |
Bibliographic information
| Title | Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541-750 |
| Editor | Lester K. Little |
| Contributors | Lester K. Little, J. N. Hays |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0521846390, 9780521846394 |
| Length | 360 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Ancient / General Medical / Forensic Medicine Medical / History |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |