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June Wrap-Up: British Summer

This month was a little less full-on on the reading front. After about 10 years of living in the same house I finally sorted my library card and started to make use of it. That's how I managed to pick up Mort this month (and a few others for next month). Overall I think it was a fairly strong performance with some strong contenders for the top 5 of the year.

This month featured a total of 7 books read:

Stung With Love: Poems and Fragments - Sappho (4/5)

I think this is fairly self-explanatory. There is something poignant in a woman’s work whom much of it has been destroyed by time. The poems within the collection stand to the true testament to time, they speak of wedding vows; love and death; anguish and loathing. Its proof that humans don’t change much even if the world around us does.

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima (4/5)

Easily one of my favourite authors I think this is a good introductory piece to his ability to write the human condition. Its ironic really considering his values as a man and how he condemns this fragile and naive outlook on masculinity but in some aspects pursued this same warped perception as he grew older (and consequently closer to his death). He really excels at writing complicated characters and people from their very darkest angles. Its a sort but sweet book and the ending is perfect, it doesn’t overelaborate in the violence and brutality (and there a few very graphic scenes within the book).

The Magus - John Fowles (5/5)

I think this might possibly be one of my top 5 of the year. I know that John Fowles is known for his other, more popular, novel: The Collector. But I think The Magus is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a surreal mind-fuck where the lines between truth & lies swirl together. The play on facsimiles of myths and the careful interweaving of theatrical elements makes for a journey of a book. You feel swallowed by the experiences of Nicholas and the world around him, at the mercy of unseen forces. Its better to go in blind but there is some use of racial slurs but it does serve a point, but also likely a product of its time.

Supplication - Nour Abi-Nakhoul (1/5)

This book I had higher expectations for but I can safely say that its more of a jumbled incoherent mess. I am all for stream of consciousness but this is bordering on indecipherable. There's no real plot and the promises of he blurb fall endlessly short. It fails to achieve anything substantial, there's sections of enthralling graphic descriptions but there's not enough to carry this book much further than a waste of time.

Diavola - Jennifer Thorne (4/5)

This is a clever little twist on the conventions of a classical horror story. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I lapped the book up in about a day. I found myself fixed in the narrative with a desire to see the conclusion. The writing isn’t all that special but its certainly a hook, line and sinker. You want to see how it all falls to pieces and how the whole hing develops and what stands the test of time. I’m glad I picked up a signed copy of this to add to my collection.

Maurice - E.M Forster (5/5)

When this book was released shortly after E.M Forster’s death when it was first released it received a lot of criticism for its ‘fantastical’ view of a optimistic end. This book was written in secret and part of a man who yearned for a future where being gay was considered acceptable- something that has been written down over and over again since humans can write. The book is about two really rather difficult men, but most people are difficult, so there's not really anything there but it shows the fight to pursue a life of happiness without deceit or lies about nature or pretending to be something your not. It ends on a happier note, with two men aid side by side in the comfort of the boat house. Maurice is freed from the watchful opinions of those around and his doomed relationship with Clive. The last two pages, certainly Maurices final words to Clive are a lasting imprint in my brain. Filled with horrible and complicated men it was easily a 5 stars.

Mort - Terry Pratchett (3/5)

The foreword to this made me blub but there's no surprise there. This is the 2019 edition with the foreword written by Neil Gaiman, it talks a lot about how an author can evade death through their work. Its poignant stuff and I like to think that I’ve collected a lot of the voices of authors both past and present so far (and will continue to collect them for the rest of my life). The book is insightful and witty, much of the charm I had for good omens when I read it. Classical fantasy tropes aren’t something I’m usually that interested in but I think this short novel was worth my time. Life is short and death doesn’t pick sides.

I also DNF’ed one book this month:

Butter - Asako Yuzuki

I was looking forward to reading this but this was a bit of a disappointment. There's not much going on in terms of deeper themes, it is what it says on the tin which is an exploration of feminism in Japan and a critique of the sexist culture its cultivated. I think there's better forays into this topic that I've read such as Out by Natsuo Kirino.

Considering how wet and unseasonably cold its been I've enjoyed what I've read a considerable amount, as it stands I've read a total of 37/40 for my yearly goal.

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My cartoon for this week’s Guardian Books.

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Know Thy Shelf: Literary Discord Community

Know Thy Shelf is a new community focused on discussing literature of all kinds!

Featuring:

a monthly book club

genre channels

study & craft spaces

All members must be 16+.

Please keep in mind this is not a space for advertising one's work or advertising in general.

Join here!

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20 Frescoes from Pompeii

In this gallery, we present 20 of the most striking frescoes found in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in Italy. These frescoes were once buried under a thick carpet of volcanic ash from the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE. Year after year, archaeologists continue to find such artistic treasures that never cease to fill us with wonder.

You can admire most of these superb frescoes at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

Roman wall paintings were created using a painstaking build up of various layers of material… First, a rough coat of mortar is applied to the surface, sometimes three layers thick and composed of lime and sand (or volcanic pozzolana). Next, a further three coats were added, this time using a mixture of lime and fine crushed marble to give a smoother finish and then glass, marble and cloth were used to polish the surface and prepare it for painting. Colours were added when the surface was still wet (fresco) but details might also be added to a dried surface (tempera).

Continue reading…

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The fall of Icarus (detail) from the workshop of Bernard Picart, 1731.

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Artistic Liberties: What it means to be an artist

Art has been a staple of human existence from the very beginning through prehistoric depictions of the hunt to more contemporary forms of artistic expression pictured in the Tate. It forms a fundamental part of our identity as a species, an ability to take the intent of expression and put it down on canvas as something meaningful. Whether art or not is meaningful is also part of a large, exhausted debate. For ease of this essay, art simply encompasses mostly painting although some of the principles discussed could also be applied to the other disciplines.

Primarily, art is an extension of someone’s identity. James Joyce sums this up quite nicely in his semi-autobiographical work A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.

“We are right, he said, and the others are wrong. To speak of these things and to try to understand their nature and, having understood it, to try slowly and humbly and constantly to express, to press out again, from the gross earth or what it brings forth, from sound and shape and colour which are the prison gates of our soul, an image of the beauty we have come to understand - that is art.”

The novel itself is about artistic sacrifice. It covers the journey of a young man as the world around him shapes his ideals and his ambitions as he becomes an artist in his own right. To give some more context Joyce wrote this during the time of the Irish revivalist movement when there was a shift in Irelands identity politics. The movement was nationalistic in intent, having been colonized by the British sought to reinstate the Irish culture which had been stripped from them and instill the heritage lost prior to occupation. Stephen Dedalus, the main character, during his latter years of higher education, comes to the formative conclusion that his ideals in life are at odds with both his country, family and friends and ultimately gives them up in pursuit of his passions. The whole novel is a mix of what it means to shape an identity and keep hold of it. It speaks to the difficulty of being genuine to oneself in a time of rigid institutions and a demand for conformity.

Part in part of creating artwork is to be genuine to yourself. With the technical element put aside ultimately when you put pen to paper you imbue it with a part of yourself. The choice in subject matter, mediums you choose all are shaped by personality.

Although Joyce’s representation of the commitment to identity is somewhat extreme it has been true for much of history. Take for instance during the Second World War Nazi Germany clamped down heavily on expression. The Nazi party was already coining the term ‘degenerate art’ into the 1920s before they gained power. It was 1937 and over 15,550 pieces of art had been purged from German Museums with a particular emphasis on more abstract art movements such as expressionism, which depicts altered, warped realities. A selection of this ‘degenerate’ artwork was exhibited in a mocking exhibition in Munich titled ‘Entartete Kunst’ following the end of the exhibition its through that 5000 pieces were burned in secret other pieces were sold to private collections. The aim of the exhibition was to condemn the identity of the artists and label abstract art as an evil plot against the German population- all the art in the collection was described as the ‘product of Jews and Bolsheviks’.

Even in the wake of the Nazis erasure of artistic expression many artists held within the concentration camps documented their trauma and experiences under occupation and the post-war abstract expressionist movement flourished. There is nothing on this earth that can limit, destroy, or strip away the identity of an artist. People will always seek to create expressions of their experiences even when that is a threat to themselves.

Mark Rothko, a Jewish, abstract expressionist artist based in New York for much of his life saw a shift in his artwork around the time that the Holocaust became common knowledge. His work, particularly that produced in the 1950s known as the ‘colour field paintings’ were there to illicit a raw emotional response.

“I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on,”

One of the darker, poignant pieces of the collection titled ‘Black on Maroon’ is often likened to the gateway to hell and it’s no surprise especially, with the use of Christian imagery in his work to divert from his Jewish heritage in prior works that this depiction of hell likely holds resonance with the Holocaust. The identity of an artist within their work is always present in their pieces. An artist does not create a piece without something in mind, even the simplest of sketches will have meaning behind it- even if the meaning is simple. In Rothko’s case it was a moral obligation.

“To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.”

Oscar Wilde encapsulates the idea of an artist in Only Dull People are Brilliant at Breakfast. For him art was also a moral obligation. He in his own right was an artist imprisoned for his own identity, which had bled through onto paper in the form of the novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel itself was used as evidence in the trial against Wilde in the defamation case he had started. Though, despite the following trial that ultimately resulted in Wilde’s imprisonment. Through the book of witticisms, it becomes clear that Wilde ultimately didn’t regret his experiences as they are what defines his soul- regardless of if they were illegal. It is a common theme throughout the book that for art to be art it must be unique to the desires of the artist not created for the enjoyment of anyone other than the creator.

“The moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or a dishonest trades-man.”

It’s a strikingly clear message that art is something subjective but true to the experiences, passions, and desires of its creator. For Wilde anyone who sacrifices this for the benefit of the masses is no longer an artist. In a world that becomes increasingly more consumerist and demands fascistic, cut-throat efficiency art is no longer art when it becomes impersonal and mass-produced.

Art is a deeply personal creation; it is intrinsically an emotive process even when produced with the most clinical, precise techniques it still embodies the expression of its creator. Carles Casagemas had once shared a studio with Pablo Picasso. He had been the subjects of a few paintings during their time together and they had remained close friends throughout their travels through France and Spain. Carles Casagemas in February 1901 committed suicide in Paris. Picasso himself would return to Paris in May of that year and stay in the studio of the deceased Casagemas to complete a selection of pieces for an exhibition.

Austere colours. Despondent subjects of his paintings. Anguished blue hues. Hearing of the death of his friend marked the start of Picasso’s Blue Period. During this era of his work he struggled to sell his work, he entered a deep depression that would last for several years (1901-1904) where he would paint the death of his friend several times over in oppressive shades of blue. He withdrew from his social circles and his work adopted a cheerless, melancholy and profoundly depressed view of the world around him. Picasso chose to paint poverty and it ultimately left him unable to keep the audience he had once garnered for himself in his early career. The death of his friend had a profound effect on his artwork and ultimately this translated to canvas and the pursuit of the cathartic release of depicting his friend posthumously surpassed his need to sell his own work. During this period of his work, it depicts the emotional reality he was living in the wake of his friend’s death. An artist is someone who gives emotion form. In this case, he was painting the deep melancholy he felt.

As art encompasses not only an artist’s emotional state but their moral and social obligations. Picasso serves as a double-edged sword his perception of grief is beautifully depicted in several of his paintings but much of his work has been tainted by his misogynistic portrayals of women. In modern takes on the artist, we are often encouraged to ‘separate the art from the artist’ this phrase has been used in many contexts and even in some trials in the defense of wicked people. Much of his work features women as their muses. His own granddaughter talks of the indecencies of Picasso’s work:

“He submitted them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas. After he had spent many nights extracting their essence, once they were bled dry, he would dispose of them.”

Ultimately, despite the success of his work it lies tainted with the treatment of the women around him. Picasso, by any stretch of the imagination, was not a good person and his artwork reveals that in subtle ways. Its canvases lay all bare and show him as he truly was as a person. His ideals and warped, putrid perceptions of women, the all-consuming narcissism towards his own members of his family. Art cannot be separated from the artist, because they’re inextricably linked. The context of an artist should be understood and unhidden. Its disingenuous to the victims of his abuse to ignore his bigoted views. History is all about the documentation of events to recognize so that the same mistakes aren’t repeated. 

An artist is shaped by their life. Their grief, love, passions, and hatred. Their identity is formed by their sacrifices and their opportunities. A tangible manifestation of their life. Art itself is a subjective, selfish, and selfless product. It is impossible for any machine to replicate or an AI to generate. The process to produce a painting or piece is as unique as a fingerprint. It lays all to bare and hides nothing.

What does it mean to be an artist? To give a piece of yourself to your work. To paint yourself in to the canvas.

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Thinking about her 😌💕

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The Prequel Plague

The Black Death is synonymous with plague, but it wasn’t the first (or the last) epidemic of the bubonic plague. Think less Middle Ages and more about the Byzantine Empire. The first recorded instance of a plague epidemic was the plague of Justinian but it is lesser known.

“By which the whole human race came near to be annihilated” Procopius, the Byzantine court historian declared as he talked of the plague of Justinian in his book Polemon, or ‘Wars.  The first wave of the plague ravaged the empire and Constantinople from 542-543 AC. The plague’s sporadic appearances would continue until 750 AC concreting it as the first- but certainly not the last- bubonic plague pandemic.

The word pandemic is Greek in origin, ‘pan’ meaning all and ‘demos’ meaning people. It was no surprise that as the plague engulfed the Byzantium the mortality rates soared, landing anywhere from 60-80% in some cases. Though the plague started in Egypt some time in 541 AC; Constantinople recorded approximately 300k deaths within the first year of the infection not more than a year later. The death toll rising by 5k to 10k a day during the 4 months it claimed Constantinople.

It was likely the disease was introduced through the port of Alexandria and from there it spread like wildfire. Even Procopius understood the grave nature at which the disease had spread:

“It began with the Egyptians who live in Pelusium. It divided and part went to Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and part to the people of Palestine, the neighbors of the Egyptians, and from there overran the whole earth.”.

It’s no surprise that these words sound familiar in the 21st century. The shear speed in which the disease spread seems like a familiar memory in the wake of the 2019 Covid-19 pandemic. It’s difficult to know exactly the scale of the casualties as there is limited resources describing the populations at the time, this is what makes it largely more difficult to navigate in comparison to its successor: The Black Death. To add salt to the wound there is no clear documented evidence of the disease from a medical standpoint. Procopius of Caesarea was a high-ranking official under the reign of Justinian, living within the city of Constantinople at ground zero and John of Ephesus was a Christian bishop living within Syria at the time- both of whom had no medical experience. What can be said is regardless of dispute over the disease itself; they were both talking about the same plague.

Flicking through the sources and research notes it’s clear that most of what is known is a patchwork of information sewn together which leaves a large area for myths, doubts and discrepancies to arise. For the Justinian plague it seems far more common due to the scarcity of resources and so the plague seems to fly under the radar as the unknown prequel to the great mortality.

It’s important to start with the basics- to walk before you run. The ruler of the empire: Justinian ruled the Byzantine empire for 45 years from 527-65 AC. During this time, he made it a firm aspiration to reclaim territory in the wake of the Old Roman Empire’s dream- which was a fairly common goal amongst other rulers of Byzantium. The emperor was particularly keen in removing the remaining pagan roots from the empire and cutting out the corruption like an overdue tumor. He wasn’t particularly popular within his court. His closest advisors, due to his impoverished beginnings, were from outside the typical aristocratic class. Justinian was particularly authoritarian and believed that the emperor’s word was law- his ambitions, as most do, fell short.

As the wave of pestilence covered much of the empire, not even the emperor was spared. The disease in question was caused by a causative organism: Yersinia Pestis. Originally discovered in 1894 pandemic in Hong-Kong by a Frenchman, Alexandre Yersin. Though, despite its late discovery the Bubonic plague is far older, late neolithic-era remains dated 4500-2000 BC. Y.Pestis is one of 11 species of Yersinia- only 3 of which are capable of infecting humans.

Much of what is taught in history classes is true, the primary carriers of the bacteria are fleas found on black rats. When infected, the proventriculus (esophagus in layman’s terms) is blocked with bacteria. The flea becomes agitated in an attempt to relieve its predicament bites and regurgitates both the blood and the Y. Pestis into its host. Fleas reproduce on a massive level and simply move onto the next host when the one they’re calling home dies- a perfect breeding ground for an epidemic. For now, that’s all you need.

The disease began off the coast and moved through the country inland. From Egypt to Alexandria to Constantinople, the symptoms seemed innocuous at first but within days things became dramatically bleaker. Most victims died within a few days, the mild fever was tailed by bubonic swellings, delirium and hallucinations. The Buboes were the telltale symptom, although those that oozed pus were a sign of likely recovery. Black blisters spelled death. Procopius documented again.

“Death came in some cases immediately, in others after many days; and with some the body broke out with black pustules about as large as a lentil and these did not survive even one day, but all succumbed immediately. With many also a vomiting of blood ensued without visible cause and straightway brought death.”

As great swathes of the population were dying within Constantinople there was little they could do to stop it. The limited medical knowledge- largely based on Galen and Hippocrates respectively limited their ability to both assess and deal with the plague. In the end the only real measure they took was self-isolation something that people intuitively practiced.

Long disputes in recent history argue the validity that the plague taking hold of the Byzantium was truly the plague. Due to the limited ability to actually test for the presence of the disease in the victims (usually using dental pulp from remains) most of it is left up to assessing the symptoms and sources of the time. It’s not the first time in history that plague has been mistaken for other diseases especially with the symptoms in the beginning stages. To understand what the plague is, it’s easier to divide it up by the symptoms present.

The presence of the buboes is distinctive to the bubonic plague and involves the swelling of the lymph nodes especially in the groin and armpit areas. Usually, the infection is the result of a bite from an infected flea. The bacteria infect the lymph node closest and from there multiplies. The bubonic plague is reliant on a vector which makes infection sporadic and hard to track as well as particularly difficult to eradicate.

Though, the mention of black, pea-sized blisters could spell presence of the septicemic plague. Septicemic plague is a more unruly beast, the incubation period is poorly defined but is characterized by plague spots- likely caused by necrosis and internal bleeding of organs and the skin. Tissue turns black and dies especially on the regions such as the fingers and toes. It can be the first symptom or be onset from untreated forms of the plague. All of which are mentioned in Procopius’ account.

The description of the disease by Procopius doesn’t suggest any coughing but the notion that the disease spread as fast as it did could suggest the presence of the pneumonic plague- a strain which has a much shorter incubation period which is far more infectious. Pneumonic plague, characterized by a rapid onset of pneumonia and bloody, watery mucus. It’s possible that this type of plague develops from the inhalation of infectious droplets. This makes it one of the most dangerous forms as it doesn’t rely on a vector (the flea) to carry the disease. Most victims die from respiratory failure caused by pneumonia or shock. Estimated incubation period of 1 to 3 days much shorter than bubonic plague.

With the understanding of the general principles of infection, incubation, and symptoms it’s now easy to understand how alternative diseases such as Anthrax would be an impossibility. For starters, Anthrax cannot be transmitted from person to person. This was the fatal flaw in the bioterrorism act of 2001. The only people who died were the ones that came into direct contact with the microbes. Other Common diseases of the time also don’t feature the characteristic buboes, which are a defining feature of the bubonic plague. The cherry on the top is the identification of the pneumonic plague playing a larger part in the Black Death that would follow many centuries later, which we can reasonably assume was the case during the Justinian Plague, the original ‘plague’.

Procopius also documented the disease killing “People of all ages were struck down indiscriminately, but the heaviest toll was among the young and vigorous and especially among the men...” This speaks to the larger effects of the plague on the empire. The loss of manpower was on a massive scale. John of Ephesus Recollects as he moved through Palestine the intensity of the pestilence.

“During the tumult and intensity of the pestilence,” he wrote, “we journeyed from Syria to the capital. Day after day we, too, used to knock at the door of the grave along with everyone else. We used to think that if there would be evening, death would come upon us suddenly in the night. Although the next morning would come, we used to face the grave during the whole day as we looked at the devastated and moaning villages in these regions, and at corpses lying on the ground with no one to gather them.”

People spent days at a time shifting corpses for the piles to continue growing. Others spent days digging graves. When the plague had initially reached Constantinople, some doctors attempted to try and investigate the disease. Dissecting corpses, buboes and performing autopsies on the victims of the pestilence to no avail. In true Hippocratic style their explanation of ‘bad air’ was evaded by the bubonic plague’s sporadic infections, unlike anything they had encountered before.

During this time medical knowledge was limited to the teachings of Galen and Hippocrates which wouldn’t change for centuries. The reliance on the four humours and a sub-par understanding of anatomy sported by dissections of pigs and other lower animals. Their efforts in understanding the plague were limited, with no understanding of the bacteria causing the infection, nor the vectors. In the end their understanding lead to poor efforts at quarantine and an attempt to close the ports, which didn’t stop the rats or the fleas from spreading.

The disease reached the very extremities of the Byzantine empire. It’s no surprise that their authoritarian leader crumbled at the foot of the plague, more focused on surviving himself. Rather than trying to continue his administrative legal reform, demanding tax from a diminishing population, he instead retired himself to a dogged routine of survival. Procopius in his book Secret History, recounts Justinian demanding remit taxes from landowners, whom of which had lost much of their laborers. Should the landowner die, then the tax would pass from them to the neighbor, this ultimately worsened the financial situation. In 545 AC Justinian had to rule against the law to alleviate the burden on an already crushed population.

As the landowners lost much of their workforce, and the adult population diminished across the empire possibly increased the means to charge more for labour. Demanding higher wages. Demanding lower rent. This was noted by Justinian’s edict in 544 AC which complained of tradesman, artisans and agricultural workers having handed themselves to avarice in the wake of the plague. In some cases, demanding twice or even triple their normal rates. In an attempt to curb inflation the emperor froze both wages and prices at pre-plague levels, something which now sounds familiar in a post-pandemic world.

The loss of the agricultural workers was two birds with one stone. A loss of taxes, on which much of the empire relied but also the loss of crops. It’s no surprise that famine followed in the wake of the plague and there are documented food shortages in 542 AD then again in 545 and 546 AD.

As if the manpower in the fields was the only issue the military was also affected on a large scale. With the loss of the taxpayer base already paying higher taxes for Justinian’s military campaigns, there was now also a shortage of troops. The bulk of his remaining force in 544 AD were sent on a campaign to confront the Persians- the smaller Persian force decimated the remains of Justinian’s army with the Byzantium ultimately choosing to pay tribute and keep peace in 545 AD.

This wasn’t the only documented issue with the military campaigns, the time in which it took to muster reinforcements in battle was another good indicator of the plagues’ impact on the empire. An increased reliance on support forces such as the barbarians and longer campaigns moving from 5 years to 8. After the plague Agathias writes of the state of the army following the pestilence:

“The Roman armies had not in fact remained at the desired level attained by the earlier Emperors but had dwindled to a fraction of what they had been and were no longer adequate to the requirements of a vast empire. And whereas there should have been a total effective fighting force of six hundred and forty-five thousand men, the number had dropped during this period to barely one hundred and fifty thousand.”

There wasn’t a corner of society that the plague wouldn’t touch. Justinian within his reign had decreed the eradication of the pagan faith in favour of Chalcedonian Christianity. His authoritarian approach to faith could likely have helped form the imagery that shaped the Christian interpretation of the plague. In fact, this is reflected in the missionary (and pious Christian bishop) John of Ephesus’ testimony who argued it was directly a punishment from God. That those who would read his testimony would “become wise to the sentence for their sins”.

The common factor through all accounts of the Justinian Plague is the dramatic descriptions of mass mortality. The annihilation of the human race. In recent years, however this global, catastrophic event that supposedly brought the end of antiquity was actually likely just endemic within the region. The totalizing impact is just stirred up by the eyewitness sources where the pain and suffering was rampant. From recent studies of a range of indicators for phenomena such as economic production, state activity and urban development it seems like the Justinian plague was a largely localized outbreak.  While it did impact Constantinople and other cities severely there is no clear evidence that smaller communities felt the effect at all. An example of this would be the study on fossilized pollen remains, which can be used to document agricultural production, which is a good indicator of economic activity. In this case, the area surrounding the Byzantine empire, particularly the eastern Mediterranean following the years of the plague experienced little or no decline in their production. For this reason, it’s not entirely accurate to document it as a pandemic or assume it affected the entire Mediterranean- or possibly even all the territories under Justinian’s control.  

Though the extent of the pestilence and its mortality, including the reach of the disease can be questioned, the likelihood of this being the first bubonic plague outbreak stands on more solid ground. Identifying an ancient disease can be done in a few ways a retrospective diagnosis from the accounts given (Procopius and John) or using molecular biology to identify ancient pathogens extracted from human remains. Skeletons dating back to the 6th century have since been dug up and researchers were able to reconstruct the genome responsible for a 60-80% mortality rate within the population. Coupled with the clear and decisive accounts from those that witnessed the disease its clear the Justinian plague, although dramatized in its accounts truly was the prequel plague. 

All the links to the references used within this blog can be found under my references tab.