The First Pandemic within, and beyond, the borders of the Byzantine Empire

The so-called First Pandemic was the first historically reported pandemic to be attributed to Yersinia Pestis. It started with Justinian’s Plague (541–544) and persisted for approximately 200 years. Devastating the Empire at a social, economic and population level, this historical event was, for a long time, recognized as one of the crucial accelerators of the collapse of Antiquity. However, recent researchers have noted that some of the evidence supporting the theory that Justinian’s Plague is an unparalleled catastrophe are only speculation and that the analysis of plague events at the local level in those regions rich in their variety of evidence is the key for a better general understanding of the First Pandemic. The proposed project is designed as a regional, multidisciplinary piece of research that combines archaeological, historical and biological evidence in an investigation of Justinian’s Plague.