The Plague in Constantinople

Abstract

The epidemic of bubonic plague that devastated Byzantium and especially the capital, Constantinople, is analyzed in this work from a multidisciplinary perspective, which deals with the origin of the plague and the specific determination of the bacteria responsible for the lethal plague, to the description of the human, social and legal impact of the pandemic. We also take into account the demographic decrease that resulted from the infectious disease, and the serious consequences of it, summarized in famine, Justinian regulation trying to alleviate the economic crisis, and the social impact. But an essential objective of our research is to extract from the study carried out the necessary conclusions at the time of the current expansion of COVID-19, previously knowing the medieval Byzantine situation. And the conclusion is negative and pessimistic, eager to be corrected in the immediate future with an in-depth review of global pandemic management.