How the Black Death Killed Rome - The Plague of Justinian DOCUMENTARY

The Plague of Justinian was one of the most destructive pandemics to rock the ancient world. It killed 10s of millions across the Empire and contributed to the fall of Rome. The first 100 people to go to www.blinkist.com/invicta are going to get unlimited access for 1 week to try it out. You’ll also get 25% off if you want the full membership.
In this history documentary we take a look at one of the most destructive pandemics of the ancient world. Thanks to modern science we have been able to identify its root cause, the Yersinia Pestis bacterium. The Black Death had come to Europe centuries before its more infamous Medieval visit.
We begin the episode with a brief discussion of disease in the ancient world. We then turn specifically to the nature of the Black Death. The documentary covers its life cycle in reservoir populations, its transmission by fleas, and its symptoms once in a host body. Once this context is established we turn to our historical record for the first record of its appearance. This occurred around 540 AD in Roman Egypt.
Our records tell us that it sprung up in the Roman fort of Pelusium on the eastern edge of the Nile Delta. Here the bacterium would infect the local rodent population which infested the grain depots and port facilities of Egypt. These then seem to have hitched a ride on one of the numerous outbound ships and been directly injected into the trade routes which were the bloodstream of the Roman Empire. The Plague then spread to all major port cities with a huge wave of destruction. The capitol of Constantinople was incredibly hard hit with even the Emperor being infected. The Plague struck the Byzantine Empire just as Belisarius was leading the legions to reconquer the west. It seems that this destabilizing attack crippled Rome's ability to press forward with the campaigns and doomed their efforts to bring about the rise of a new Roman Empire which stretched across the whole of the Mediterranean once more.
In the last portion of the documentary we then take a look at some of the scientific evidence which might better contextualize the impact of the Plague of Justinian.
Bibliography and Suggested Reading
Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire
The Justinian Plague: An inconsequential pandemic?
The Justinian Plague’s Devastating Impact Was Likely Exaggerated

[@gian0giorg]

I'm a school teacher in Greece and I was always irritated by the fact that, although byzantine history has a big part in the curriculum, school books don't even mention the Plague of Justinian. I mean, ok, the Italian campaign was a costly adventure for the empire but no-one can overlook an event that wiped out a big portion of the population as a major reason for the decline.

[@alexandrostheodorou8387]

Byzantine/Medieval Roman History, is our story my friend.

[@sly4462]

Same with rise of Islam only a few decades later. Its very well known that Islam had a very easy conquest but they basically say it was that they were good worriers but no mention of the fact that they fought an empire that was almost destroyed by other events.

[@diarradunlap9337]

@@sly4462 True. Which is why, when Islam finally hit Chinese and Frankish territories in the 700s, their expansion was stopped cold.

[@hia5235]

Its absolutely avoided in todays Pro-Islamic historical narrative. And last century it was also buried as the British prevailing perspective didnt like the idea of Rome lasting 2000 years, and did anything to undermine its greatness.

[@alvaro701]

@@diarradunlap9337 They conquered other strong states, as the Visigoths

[@sgauden02]

The Plague Of Justinian literally broke out at the worst possible time. Just when Rome was in the process of restoring the empire to it's former glory. Justinian, and Belisarius came so close, but were stopped dead in their tracks by pure bad luck. If the plague hadn't happend, Rome would probably have been restored.

[@arvidkoop6738]

I dont think that even if the plague didn't happen that Rome would have been restored because the emperors who followed justinian werent nearly as competent as justinian and I dont think that the process of restoration would have been completed by justinians death. Also I think that by the 6th century rome was only held uphold by justinians charisma and political genius.

[@LauftFafa]

i doubt it , that area have became just too targeted , slavs , bolgars , cumans , amazighs , germans + the mighty persians and the imminent arabic invasion . add to that the later invasion of hungarians and norse . i doubt that a restored roman empire will mean it will be strong enough to push back all these just like old time . the byzantines werent as strong as the romans of the punic wars . in antiquity from 350 to 250ad the mediteranean was rich , highly populated , prosperous even with wars , a strong city state can have an army of 50.000 and a fleet of +100 to 300 ships easily like syracuse and athens and more . a bigger state can have such army x time and time again like macedon rome and carthage who kept raising armies then losing them then rising new ones etc .... in this period of 6th century we are talking about the dark ages , population of the mediteranean was highly reduced , even if rome get restored it will have a weak broken society . it will barely be able to raise an army of 40.000 in 10 years and we already saw how both persians and byzantines did struggle a lot to keep raising armies and fighting each others or the arabs . it was simply a bad time period , a massive restored rome will probably crumble quick . take what happened to the french empire of charlemagne after its division as an example . arabs from south , norse from rivers and sea , hungarians from the east all unleashed on them at once . it was a time of chaos and fallen empires . china too was badly hit . things wont stabilize on the middle east until 150 years later after the arabs unify the land and Tang dynasty of china link with them creating a new golden age sphere while in the west it wont really stabilize until the 1100s

[@sgauden02]

​@@arvidkoop6738 I think that at the very least, Justinian, and Belisarius could've reconquered Italy, North Africa, Spain, and Southern France. That would at the very least made the Mediterranean a Roman lake once again, but anything more than that would've been pushing it. With more resources to draw upon, the great war with Persia wouldn't have been as draining as it was in real life, and in turn, would've enabled Rome to put up a better fight against the Arab invasions.

[@terintiaflavius3349]

Much like now

[@owenb8636]

The problem is once you reconquer the West, then you have to deal with all the problems that caused it to fall in the first place. I think Africa was the only part of the reconquest they could have reasonably hoped to hold on to

[@mg4361]

Interesting how plague both opened and closed the middle ages.

[@LuisAldamiz]

The Middle Ages were opened by Diocletian's reforms.

[@mg4361]

@@LuisAldamiz What exactly opened (and closed) the middle ages can be debated. I only mean that the bubonic plague roughly coincided with both periods.

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@mg4361 - The conventional beginning of the Middle Ages is around 450 (final fall of the Roman Empire) but I'd argue that the forcing of the free peasants to become coloni (serfs) by Diocletian (and successors, Diocletian made the laws but enforcement took time) is the real trigger. It's also convenient because it sets a before (Principate) and after (Dominate, fragmentation) in the Roman Empire, among other reasons (coin scarcity because of his "anti-inflationary" austericide, laws that enforced people to inherit the profession of their parents, what leads to the Medieval caste system very directly, etc.) The Justinian plague is clearly already medieval, ask in France, Britain, Spain, Morocco or even Lombard Italy...

[@mg4361]

@@LuisAldamiz I can't ask them, seeing as they've been dead for over a 1000 years. When exactly the middle ages began, when they ended and what a medieval society even means is incredibly vague and divergent between different areas. You have your views, other have others. The third century crisis, the terrarchy, the rise of Christianity, 410 sack of Rome, deposition of Romulus Augustus, death of Julius Nepos, death of Justinian, Hijra, Heraclius, fall of Egypt to the Arabs... there is no firm, well agreed upon time as there never was a sharp border. It was a gradual transition. Where you decide to pull the line is entirely subjective. It was somewhere between AD200 and AD700.

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@mg4361 - Nobody can: the Middle Ages is a historiographical concept invented by historians because it worked well enough for them. It's of course an arbitrary definition. Medieval people would not consider themsleves "medieval" in any way but they would probably agree that things had changed for the worse since the "good all times". However your list of triggers is a bit way too extensive. I'm pretty sure that in 407 the Vandals ravaged my country and Rome could only put mid resistance, not to protect us but to protect their coveted province of Hispania only, two years laters Didimus and Verinianus were back to Rome and (luckily) the Vandals moved on to Baetica and (later) Africa, and we could breath for a while. However a few decades later oligarchic oppression or popular enf of patience resulted in a revolution, the bagauda, and we finally got rid of the Romans and their barbarian thugs for at least 200 years. That's the beginning of Basque liberty and also of the Dark Age, because people almost stopped writing altogether. By the time Arabs conquered the Levant and Egypt, Rome was nothing but a faded memory, it laid in ruins and a pitiful Pope was all that had to remain referential for the world. On the other side 200 is too early. Sure: there was trouble and reforms in the 3rd century but nothing really changed unti Diocletian. It's then when the classical world ends almost overnight, so it's between the late 3rd century and the earliest 5th to me, really. Such a long period as yours is not a transition but a whole age (if it was internally consistent at all, and it's not).

[@bo_392]

i just realized the IRONY of studying history as a form of escapism (which i enjoy), because everything back then was worse. WAY worse.

[@bernardokrolo2275]

Every time when you flash toilet which is IN your house or apartments..but i never understand People who didnt care abouth history

[@Pikkabuu]

Eh. There is escapism in history as times were simpler and there were parts of the world which were unknown. So the world looked way different than the hectic times of today.

[@somedragonbastard]

To be fair, the modern world is absolutely becoming its own kind of hell. Sure, you have a toilet, but we practically live in a surveillance state with tech companies as the government. No wonder so many people fantasize about cottagecore. Besides, companies like Amazon really are here to show us that feudalism never went away.

[@S0ulinth3machin3]

@@somedragonbastard If I had to choose either the surveillance state (with sanitation) or no surveillance and no sanitation, I'll take the surveillance and sanitation every time. First world problems. Before the industrial revolution the life expectancy worldwide was something on the order of 25-35 years, depending upon how developed the nation/economy was. Anything could kill you at any time and even royalty was subject to the whim of disease. Kings were killed by little things (by modern standards) like diarrhea.

[@somedragonbastard]

@@S0ulinth3machin3 really is a lose-lose situation, huh

[@davtash69]

Invicta and Historia Civilis post new videos in a span of 24 hours? What have i done to deserve this?

[@RM-qw2rw]

Don't forget about the King's and Generals channel. they put out great history video's as well and just posted some new stuff

[@jessefisher1809]

get out of my head!

[@jannestiemes4328]

Kings and generals too, this is perfect!

[@aspanishinquisitor3703]

Kings and generals is just trash

[@pacesupply170]

That’s just good clean living!

[@_Ocariao]

Poor Justinian, what a bad luck for he and Belisaruis, after so much work to reconquest Rome...

[@kolontaialexis3567]

Too bad that rome that time is a shanty town

[@BVargas78]

@@kolontaialexis3567 While it was way past it's hey day, Rome wasn't too bad under the Ostrogoths before the east roman campaign in Italy.

[@ricky-sanchez]

@@BVargas78 Rome fell after the over expansion of Gaul, and the death of its generals. Justinian's plague was just death renewed.

[@alvaro701]

Justinian was a very poor administrator. He didn't trust Belisario and for him the conquest was lost

[@BVargas78]

@@alvaro701 I think Justinian achieved great things by his very force of will but he did make mistakes and he left the empire economically exhausted, putting his less talented successors in a very difficult situation.

[@colinm8200]

As a history graduate, i think if this plague never happened, The Empire would have easily been able to retake the old lands. Millions of people back in 500AD is way more impactful than it is in 2021.

[@ColasTeam]

Not sure about that, the empire still lost to the muslims even without having to fight a war on an Italian front, or even worse a French front.

[@MaximusLongus]

@@ColasTeamMuhammed was born 30 years after the outbreak of the Justinian plague. There was a lot of time to finish a war on the Italian front before the first Muslim kingdoms began to form. Also, if the plague didn't happen, a lot more people would have been able to contribute to any war effort that might have been necessary.

[@magniwalterbutnotwaltermag1479]

@@MaximusLongus the plague was less drastic than we had thought previously so even then the soldiers were not enough to hold it, africa might have been held but not italy, there were too many problems there even during justinian and the barbarian tribes would have just waited longer than dmthey originally did, there is also khozrau who stopped because of plague and would've marched on had his army not caught it

[@tylerdurden3722]

@@ColasTeam You have to look at the full context of the situation. Typically, Arabs were allied with Persian empires since the days of Cyrus the Great. And they had always been hardy warriors due to their hardy nomadic lifestyle. The Levant and Egypt had been raided by Arabs since forever. Usually at the behest of Persians. Before, during and after the plague these raids were happening like they always have. The difference this time, was that the Persians managed to conquer the Levant and Egypt and occupied it for 30 years. The Romans managed to get it back after 30 years and a treaty was concluded with the Persians. The Romans now had to reestablish and rebuild control over those areas. The Persians were kind of forced into the treaty and were obviously unhappy about it. The Persians couldn't do anything themselves without breaking the treaty, so they did what they've did for more than a thousand years. They got the Arabs to attack at their behest. The Romans were weakened by the plague, their wars with the Persians and they had virtually no hold on the Levant and Egypt (which they just got back). On top of that, there were factions in the higher echelons of society in those regions that wanted independence. These factions were supported by the Persians, and those factions supported what they thought would just be the usual Arabs raids, in order to weaken the Romans, so they could manuever to get independence. This created a perfect storm that allowed these Arabs to succeed in taking some of the richest areas in the known world. The fact that these Arabs had just recently become Muslims was just a coincidence... and that coincidence allowed the religion to spread as prolifically as it did. The Levant and Egypt wasnt conquered because of Islam. Islam as a religion spread out of Arabia because those regions were conquered, at the right time. And that created a new empire, possessing very valueble holdings and neighbored only by two very weakened empires, ripe for the taking (the Romans and Persians).

[@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526]

@@ColasTeam they lost to the arab armies because they did not recover from the long and apocalypitc war against the Persians. Constantiople was under siege,Greece was invaded by slavs,all the levant (including Jerusalem) and Egypt was lost to the persians for years.

[@danielblom391]

*Humans be vibing, almost restoring Rome* Plagues: "hello there"

[@livecarsonreaction]

General Kenoflea

[@MyNameHere101]

Can you imagine sitting in your home, watching people drag bodies across the walks. The corpse's feet are shredding from the rocks and ooze pours from great holes in the arms and neck. You watch this happen over and over, and yet despite this the air is filled with a literal deadly silence. There are no trumpets for these people's deaths. Just a quiet end and a nameless grave.

[@TheMrgoodmanners]

just a friendly addition to this. what precipitated the plague were cataclysmic volcanic events that occured in indonesia and south america which caused the precipitous cooling of the planet. europe had winters that extended well into the summers during this period, byzantium was blanketed by a fog for an entire year, the year 536AD has been termed the worst year to have been alive as a human being as a result. its quite possible the declines in elephant populations thus ivory in sub saharan africa was as a result of this event not the plague. this was the same period that marked the end of arthur's kingdom(I know I know), the demise of the great teotihuacan empire in mexico, collapse of the gupta empire etc it's said to have even precipitated the rise of islam as there was a devastating drought in the region around this period

[@Joyride37]

Throughout history the patterns I see are climate change fucking with society, causing droughts, famines, natural disasters, potential plagues, and/or mass migrations. The results of what people do in response is usually just a consequence of those larger influences

[@mirabletest]

He literally talks about volcanic events near 5:30

[@legendofloki665i9]

Call me an ignorant pleb, but - Arthur's kingdom? Have I missed some new research into post-Roman Britain, or are you just pulling my leg here?

[@marcos1669]

@@Joyride37 Like the bronze age collapse

[@weirdofromhalo]

There was no Teotihuacan empire in Peru.

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

the Plague can be found everywhere, even north America, and there are still people get it in the US, but it's no longer so bad due to antibiotics

[@keithharper32]

Unfortunately I have heard of outbreaks of resistant strains of the plague.

[@patrickmunneke8348]

Always cases in Los Angeles.

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

@@patrickmunneke8348 actually it’s mostly in New Mexico

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

@@keithharper32 hopefully those are just rumors If not the survivors will laugh at the coronavirus God help is all

[@redwingrob1036]

WHAT happens, when eventually through overuse, antibiotics lose their effectiveness? NOT just over prescribing but giving to livestock?

[@deirdregibbons5609]

Excellent presentation. Beverly's artwork was really good at showing the fear and misery people were experiencing. She really gives her subjects such personality.

[@ktheterkuceder6825]

Someone in ancient rome dies. Ancient romans: such is life.

[@aidanbob2048]

It is what it is

[@ariesmp]

And modern day Albanians too.

[@ktheterkuceder6825]

@@ariesmp Lere. Kta njerez qe ikin perdite nga vendi,qe merren edhe me krime si jadhte si brenda e nuk bejne asgje per te ndryshuar situaten dhe prape ulerasin: shqiperi etnike osa mire me qene shqiptar me bejne te me vije per te vjelle

[@ktheterkuceder6825]

@@ariesmp European powers should have wiped us out.

[@ariesmp]

@@ktheterkuceder6825 Well, I don't think I should be wiped out because of some criminals. There is no need to keep all that weight on your shoulders. The world is big enough for everybody. Be the best Albanian you can be and you will be our representative to those who interact with you.

[@flaviulus]

Your content is always excellent (with some inaccuracies from time to time but it's hard to uncover everything), keep it up!

[@bradsmithy4380]

So, Rome died because there weren't enough cats?? *Laughs in egyptian*

[@SonofSethoitae]

I mean, the plague started in Egypt, so...

[@praem9597]

The Justinian Plague was completely exagerated. Not like this propaganda video says www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6926030

[@waleedkhalid7486]

@@praem9597 Sorry for the long comment, but I have... thoughts... as an armchair historian and epidemiologist myself. After reading a good portion of the paper myself, I also conclude that it is possible that the effects of the plague of Justinian (lets differentiate it from the later black death) might have been somewhat exaggerated. However, They also make assumptions that I do not quite agree with. For example, they mention that there was less 'plague literature' during subsequent outbreaks as an indicator that the disease was not as harmful/impactful as we were led to believe. However, I challenge that due to the fact that a large population decline would lend itself towards forcing specialist workers (such as artisans and writers) to gravitate towards farming a bit more. The lack of population to support the specialist class would mean that those specialists would have to do some of the work themselves. As a result, there could be fewer writers to write about the disease. The lack of literature could also be due to the human activity of escapism - why write about one's horrible life or the literal apocalypse when you could write something else to take one's mind off reality? Additionally, diseases like this would not have lasted very long in the ancient world. With fewer population centers with lower population densities, it would be easier for such plagues to burn themselves out in a few months- as is presented in the video. Also, with fewer people for each outbreak, the impact of the disease would decrease every time. In subsequent eras when populations started to rise and cities started to really take off as more than just centers of administration and power, such a disease would have been more impactful. Its things like this that make me think that the truth is something in the middle - I am sure that the plague and its outbreak were devastating, but that the true devastation was less than 'thousands of bodies per day' (that kind of mortality rate for an ancient society would be unsustainable- think about how low deaths in ancient wars actually were due to commanders needing their peasants to live to farm afterward, if the plague killed so many so quickly that would trigger complete economic and societal collapse within a month).

[@Hborn]

What happened to the slave's?

[@nothingtoospiffy7913]

CACK!

[@caesarshotdogchampion8738]

Attempt #7: What if Julius Caesar had survived Part 3

[@sagagis]

we need much more likes to this comment, to get the attention of Invicta

[@adamgorz9679]

He loses focus too easily.

[@fakechloe207]

He was old as tits anyway. And Augustus would have succeeded him either way.

[@caesarshotdogchampion8738]

@@fakechloe207 History would have been WAY different.

[@fakechloe207]

@@caesarshotdogchampion8738 yeah but again, not sure if he could've survived his upcoming campaigns. Furthermore, if he died during the campaigns, a civil war would have been inevitable

[@CirBam24]

Disease, the killer of men. The bane of empires. The universal divine intervention. The thing that is giving me an excuse to not attend brick and mortar.

[@ThisIsSolution]

Grow a set

[@CirBam24]

@@ThisIsSolution No, I dont think I will

[@hungrymusicwolf]

@@CirBam24 Paradox, in saying no you did exactly what you declined!

[@Hborn]

What happened to the slave's?

[@TechnoMinarchist]

Aye without the plague the eastern empires reconqueat would have not been stopped in its path. As well as the volcanic eruption that happens a year later that shifted the climate making it really difficult to grow crops (and imo likely created the conditions for the plague to last so long).

[@majormarketing6552]

Doesnt matter rome was still wealthy and the locals everywhere they went wanted roman rule

[@bobbuilder3414]

Thanks to u bec of u my confusion end & now i cleared that cloud is not reason of pleague its the reason of long lasting 🙂

[@commandergeokam2868]

Great video as always Invicta

[@Landon669]

wonderful video! the journal quotes were a great touch :)

[@Kris-yy9jo]

Great video! Audio in the last 2 minutes has a loop/repeat issue in case yah needed to know or whatever

[@Solon1581]

8:39 I assume you used modern Istanbul as a reference when making that map. It shows since that southern bulb not protected by the sea wall is not actually the remnants of an ancient harbour, but the result of a land reclamation project in the 20th century.

[@lucasvanderhoeven3760]

Great video man!

[@cathrinewhite7629]

9:40 When I was about to start my first quarter of college, when I got strep throat 3 weeks beforehand. My fever was so high, I was hallucinating a judge yelling at me & each time he deigned me "Guilty!" for a listed crime, he would demand one of my organs as punishment. I really perceived & felt his removal of my liver, kidneys & he was then going for my lungs, when I said "I'm dying" to my mom. She rushed me to the ER. It was a long, confusing recovery, in a wheelchair at first. I had those painful black spots all over, much like the plague. Antibiotics killed the strep- but not the other things that accompanied it. It took about a decade to fully recover my health. So yeah, I feel for anyone getting attacked by the really nasty bacteria or viruses in this world.🙏🏼

[@brandonpelch3248]

I’m a simple man, I see Invicta posts a video, I watch.

[@ChannelRandomMy]

Wow, I've learned a lot about Roman history and always heard that the barbs came in and straight wrecked the city of Rome, but this is clearly and obviously a huge factor that doesn't get much mention. Thanks, glad I subscribed a couple of months ago.

[@bigfenix8272]

Nice, here in the first hour. Love your work!

[@roahforeva]

Invicta I liked and subbed, great job guys! Can you do and video of Spartacus?

[@Armorius2199]

Invicta are you evergoing to release the What if Caesar Lives Part 4? I am exhausted from asking man!

[@nathanofthefranks2955]

Did you ever hear the tragedy of the Evolution of the Roman Legions: Part 1? I thought not. It’s not a story the Invicta would tell you. Evolution of the Roman Legions: Part 1 was the 1st part in a legendary series. He had such a knowledge of the Roman Kingdom that he could even keep part 2 from being uploaded. The legend states that there are some that are still waiting, hoping for part 2.

[@nApucco]

Great video. Great video.

[@timorean320]

"Ring around the Rosie's, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down" is a song from the Black Death. A symptom was a ring on your cheek (They called Rosie) you needed a pocket full of flowers to mask the stench of death, posies were cheap, ashes, ashes, we all fall down. When your house had it, they burned everything. Funny how we all sing it as kids, yet have 0 idea how morbid a song it is.

[@thatsnodildo1974]

Pretty sure that was disproved to have connections

[@weirdofromhalo]

Ring around the rosies has nothing to do with plague. It's just a fun game.

[@danielmalinen6337]

Did you know that plague masks only date from the 17th century and were not used in the 14th century?

[@simko8665]

@@danielmalinen6337 I think that only Doctors wear it then.

[@christiandaugherty6339]

I've never heard the version mentioning ashes, it was always a-tishoo (a sneeze) where I'm from.

[@JohnnyWindmill]

Ahh yeah my man invicta is bringing the sauce

[@HFFCANADA]

What the fuck does that mean. There's no pasta here

[@AK-hi7mg]

Please keep that degenerate rap "music" language away

[@lumenpraetorius4592]

The election of Kamala Harris as the next president of the U.S.

[@alvaro701]

@@AK-hi7mg you seems very happy

[@x.y.z1315]

Thank you! I happened to be in the middle of the 2020-published, 500-page book: Ravenna, Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe (years 390 - 813). The author's many years of research is clearly evident, as one can imagine, even when just considering dealing with transliteration and then multiple translations on top of that. My take; the reader has to have a stomach for man's clearly insatiable appetite for inflicting unending misery on his fellow man. But among the author's few remarks on the cyclical devastation of the plague is this one. ". . But in the summer of 542 the first outbreak of a devastating plague took its toll on conqueror and conquered alike. . . In Constantinople, the living were too few to bury the dead . . " Can't even imagine what it must have been like. You'd think man learned something . .

[@meilinchan7314]

Without Anton van Leeuwenhoek or Alexandre Yersin? nothing. Ibn Sina had his suspicions but it would take almost a thousand years for him to be vindicated.

[@fkr9032]

Does the illustrator(s) have a social media? Always love the artwork in your videos

[@rohamH]

This video is just perfect!

[@Armorius2199]

Great vid hope Caesar Lives Part 4 is under work?

[@gunnarherzog5538]

2:03 You used the Staff of Hermes, herald of the gods and protector of (among others) travellers, merchants, and orators. You want to use the Staff of Asclepius, god of medicine. The entire misconception is thanks to US Medical Corps being American and selecting the wrong staff, thanks to their misunderstanding a foreign cultures.

[@Canev821]

Everyone knows that already....

[@SenorTucano]

Lol

[@In.Darkness]

Very cool. Cheers to your health from Canada.

[@ukeyaoitrash2618]

Yes!! I was waiting! XD

[@alessandrogini5283]

If plague never happened, maybe Justinian was able to remake roman empire

[@xedaslopes3975]

No he most likely wouldnt, the majority of the lost lands would never be reconquered or conquered for long like francia, most of iberian peninsula, even probably most of the north and center of italy.

[@alessandrogini5283]

@@xedaslopes3975 with 20000 man more o less they conquered modern tunisia, destroyed an ostrogoth army, return to turkey for push back persian, then return to Italy to defeat new ostrogoths army with enemy reinforce by frank and alemanns.. Finally, they conquered a little part of Spain.. 15 years after the greek Gothic war end, longobards invade Italy when another persian war start and avars and other slavic tribe invade balcans.. So, with 100000 man, what they can do?

[@alessandrogini5283]

@@xedaslopes3975 watch kings and generals videos on Justinian reconquest

[@xedaslopes3975]

@@alessandrogini5283 and i have watched them as well but he overstreched the empire resources also instead of trying to recounquer everything he should had kept just the south and the coastal regions and islands. I am not saying you were totally incorrect but a little too ambitious just like the emperor

[@alessandrogini5283]

@@xedaslopes3975 well, if justinian successor not made stupid things, italy can be kept

[@andywomack3414]

I marvel at the historical role played by Yersinia pestis. The power of nature in shaping human history is sometimes overlooked. What if the plague of Athens had arrived at a different time, or had not arrived at all? So much of what has happened and continues to happen to us is a simple matter of dumb, blind luck.

[@markgibson8153]

Great video, so inciting. Did the justinian plague ever reach British shores?

[@fatmanjiji]

I love history!! Facts and knowledge

[@chengkuoklee5734]

We have been taking our modern medical technology for granted.

[@bza6874]

Modern medical technology is a disaster. It's destroying our immune system and effectively making us rely on technology. It's a catastrophe

[@piperar2014]

@@londonspade5896 The usefulness of measuring life expectancy is limited, especially if it's not understood for what it is. Ten babies are born, five die before their first birthday and five live to be 60. Life expectancy is 30, which doesn't give an accurate account of what actually happened. Put Bill Gates in a room with ten normal people and the average net worth in the room is in the billions. Same thing.

[@cypressz]

@@bza6874 Vaccines are a great example of modern medicine, and they rely entirely on your own immune system to work. It's literally just weakened or dead versions of an infectious disease that your immune system uses to train so when it sees the real thing it wrecks it. In many ways things like this have made our immune systems the strongest they've ever been.

[@majormarketing6552]

Not all countries use vaccines and they are fine. Stop talking like brainwashed person

[@bza6874]

@@cypressz You actually believe that bullshit? Our immune system is not stronger than ever LMAO. Vaccines are unnatural and a long term disaster. If you read my first comment again you will see I said relying on technology will in the end mean we can;'t survive without. But we always survived without vaccines, yet we're relying on them now. This also means big pharma decides who lives and who dies.

[@brokenbridge6316]

I wonder "What if" the Plague of Justinian never came about. How different would world history actually be. It would be an interesting "What if."

[@prashr4075]

Population today could be 30 billiona

[@in4ser]

Europe might be like Imperial China was. A large, enduring, and united empire that stagnated because it lacked near-peer rivalries needed to jump start innovation and economic change. The arms race between the different European states was what led to the creation and implementation of many of the new technologies and competing philosophies of the enlightenment and industrial revolution.

[@4TheWinQuinn]

@@in4ser that is a very interesting take on the what if, thanks

[@DontBeAfraid100]

Any book recommendations for Procopios? I want to learn nore about his writings with analysis from modern scholars. Any specific books you used like that? Thanks for the video! Love this period and this event

[@SonofSethoitae]

Procopius only wrote three books, "The History of the Wars," "On Buildings," and the "Secret History." Of the three, the first and last cover much of the same ground, but the latter is far less kind to Justinian than the former. There's debate over which reflects his true feelings about Justinian. The middle is a description of the public works projects Justinian enacted.

[@noway718]

Great content. One bit of feedback, though - I don't know about anyone else, but I find the font you used in the speech bubbles around 1:55 to be awfully difficult to read.

[@AdeToz]

I can tell you've been reading Fate of Rome by Kyle Harper. Great book, worth the read. It helps put our current predicament in perspective.

[@danielchequer5842]

This sounds like a biblical event. Dunno why it wasn't recorded on it

[@budmeister]

Because the Medieval guy who wrote the New Testament didn't pay attention during his Roman History class.

[@Strider91]

Well actually. Many historians agree that the collapse of Rome follows the biblical description of the end of days. And when you think about it, the collapse of Rome was kind of an apocalyptic event for the day. . . .

[@Strider91]

@@xunqianbaidu6917 thats a misconception. The fall of Rome lead to the dark ages. Its estimated that we in the west lost almost a thousand years of scientific and cultural progress in only a few decades. And as for the the fact that rural communities were unaffected. . . .well I don't even know where to begin with that 😁. Infrastructure used for irrigation, transportation, and education simply crumbled and was lost to time (maintained for as long as anyone could remember how) and this lead to a population decline in most former territories. And once you combine that with the decades of constant warfare by warlords and kings claiming dominion over former Roman lands (and all the destruction that brings) you get a lethal cocktail of economic and societal decline that we the modern age couldn't even begin to fathom. Not to mention the rise of banditry and piracy from groups the previously would never dare to cross the might of Rome who in some cases even set up little kingdoms for themselves like in the case of the Angalo Saxons (who would later become the English) but even that future stability came at great human and economic toll. And don't even get me started on how this all lead to mass migrations and by extension disease 🧐. "When stands the colosseum, so too Rome shall stand. When falls the colosseum, so too shall Rome. When Rome falls, the world shall fall"

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@Strider91 Rural communities _were_ largely unaffected. What does a subsistence farmer in Gaul care about Rome? Or are we going to pretend that rural Roman farmers (or even the urban poor) were highly educated? Irrigation wasn't forgotten my dude, people kept doing it. Because of course they did, it's been around for almost 10000 years. The feudals manorial system of agriculture is directly descended from the Roman villas. Only the urban poor likely saw a significant decline in lifestyle immediately following the collapse of the western empire.

[@alvaro701]

@@SonofSethoitae You forgot to read half of his comment.

[@user-cs1dh7bm8z]

I may say that Plague of Justinian could be a reason why my folk (and most of others South Slavs) ended up in Balkans. After the plague the peninsula was empty of people, and according to Byzantine emperor Constantine VII porphyrogenitus, we Serbs were living south-east of modern Berlin, between modern East Germany, Poland and Czech Republic (as a matter of fact there are some serbs still there today). To cut the long story short… according to Constantine VII, one emperor after Justinian - Heraclius invited us to populate, emptied by the plague, Balkan provinces of the Empire and settled us as a “foederati” (a bunch of barbarians which are allowed to settle on a certain territory of the Roman Empire in exchange for some services - mostly military ones) and baptized us sometime before year 626. We are here ever since.

[@nApucco]

I would love a followup video going more into the theories and newest interpretations on what effect the plague of Justiniane had on the larger society and civilization in Europa. Or is too unknown/uncertain to make a video about it?

[@marcello7781]

Imagine the desperation among the local people at that time.

[@freds5520]

Thinking of the few roads PACKED with people trying to escape in all directions. Must have been a horrible time.

[@praem9597]

Covidscam measures bring more desperation to the people than any virus.

[@JackieWelles]

@@praem9597 I said under your previous comment, stop spreading bullshit ok? :) Please inform yourself before spreading misleading opinion on the internet.

[@snookiewozo]

@@JackieWelles He's right, though.

[@mekongbaby]

@@snookiewozo No, he isn't.

[@ICantSpellDawg]

So, the trajectory was toward devolution into smaller kingdoms and this just accelerated the trend, but the trend had already begun when the west collapsed under Germanic and Central Asian migration.

[@aonjack7990]

Great point

[@WildBillCox13]

Liked and shared.

[@Ghost-vi8qm]

2:13 Beautiful seeing the Hagia Sophia without the rockets!

[@tonit4233]

And with a cross on top

[@averyrandomllama6516]

@@tonit4233 The crescent and star were already there when the Ottomans took the city. The presence of the crescent and star in Islam only increased after the fall of Constantinople from the Hagia Sophia, probably to commemorate their victory

[@anderaristondo1259]

This plague, and the crop faillure becouse of the climate cooling due to the volcanic eruptions, were the main reason for the fall of most of the Roman Empire. If it wasn't for this, we would probably remember the Vth century as we do remember the IIIrd. A crisis were Rome lost important territories, only to be able to recover them later. The Rise of the Arab Empire also wouln't have been possible without this plague.

[@chipwalter4490]

are you saying Muhamed hit the world like fleas-on-rats?

[@anderaristondo1259]

@@chipwalter4490 Not exactly. I am saying that without the plague decisively weakening the Empire, Islamic conquests wouldn't have been possible. I will prudently, just in case, reserve my opinion about Mohammed to other context and places.

[@BadEconomyOfficial]

We can learn from this as we are currently dealing with COVID-19

[@dianacalahorra9467]

I had literally never heard of this particular plague, until I was long out of school! 🤔

[@peterfireflylund]

Have you heard of the Antonine Plagues?

[@LunarShuriken1]

I've also seen documentaries about how they think small pox was also breaking out along side it they just weren't able to tell the difference because they physical symptoms are similar, even during the middle ages when it happened. There's actually mutations in the genes of a lot of people from Europe that makes them immune to hiv infections because of such widespread outbreaks of smallpox.

[@reinmar2101]

Hello, What did you base that map of European tribes at the beginning of the video on? Isn't Polanes = Venedae?

[@nikhtose]

The survival, and revival, of the Byzantine Empire after waves of the plague utterly devastated its people, are amazing. Most other cultures would have imploded completely, especially if, on top of that, they were faced with unceasing threats from successive powerful enemies (Persians, Arabs, Avars, Rus, Franks, etc.). A long tale of resilience and self-confidence that deserves serious analysis and explanation!

[@markduckmanton4227]

I hope I’ve not mentioned the obvious but I recommend “Count Belisarius” by Robert Graves. It’s my favourite book about this period.

[@Doping1234]

I wonder what effect the plague had on other kingdoms in europe and the middle east. There are probably not that many sources, but they were surely not unscathed.

[@chipwalter4490]

Less metropolitan societies wouldn't convulse as severely.

[@Doping1234]

@@chipwalter4490 Then there would be much to be talked about the persians

[@Armorius2199]

Invicta when is Caesar Lives Part 4 coming out?

[@Armorius2199]

Am I the only one wishing we she the Finale of Caesar?

[@pierresihite8854]

@@Armorius2199 nope

[@thegoatslayer7403]

Y’all should do a video on the Pharos guard

[@FilipinoBarber]

this plague and the plague of Sheroe took its toll in both the Persian and the Byzantine empire and is one of the most overlook reasons why both empires were easily defeated.

[@steve0592]

One of the many 'what if" points in history.

[@scottydu81]

What if Gavrilo Princip had just finished his sandwich?

[@pupwizard3888]

You might want to update this video as to the theories about this plague being airborne instead of spread exclusively by fleas. The speed at which the plague spread contradicts traditional explanations of rodent/flea to human transfer. More and more evidence is pointing to the idea that both Justinian's plague and the Great Plague of the mid 1300s must have been a pneumonic plague that made its way into the lungs of the infected and spread through coughs and spittle. This theory fits the historical record as well as explains why the plague spread quickly in areas that had more advanced waste water treatment and garbage disposal. It is more frightening because it means this type of plague could occur today in advanced countries. My main concern is that the unwise fear porn about Covid that the media pushed is going to make most people reluctant to believe a real pandemic when it comes. Crying wolf has consequences.....

[@AzuraTarot]

newer studies have pretty much proven that the "black death" must have been airborne (though smear infection was also a way to get it) and was most likely a variant of hemorrhagic fever, aka some virus related to Lassa, Hanta and Ebola. Disappointing to see that so many people still repeat the old outdated yersinia pestis theory. If the real plague ever reappears, it will again wipe out millions of people, and antibiotics won't help.

[@Cato229]

History repeats itself, and so does Invicta: 17:29

[@jeffcordova9633]

What a time to Be Alive.. The beautiful skies above Constantinople.. The breeze.. Then the overwhelming feeling of deaths round each corner due to fear of the plague.. I’m humbled to be alive in this day in age. We take so many things for granted in our modern world Thank you for the video

[@elonmusk6929]

I love it when you guys read personal accounts.

[@amandapinkgelato9482]

Get a better hero

[@elonmusk6929]

@@amandapinkgelato9482 find one who is doing a better job revolutionizing space travel and I will think about it.

[@alexhutcheson8467]

I wonder if there are any more recent events/world powers that we could compare this to

[@tfstalshek6398]

Love the video, but you mention the amazing reduction in the ivory trade that predated the onset of the Justinian Plague and yet don't mention the eruption of Krakatoa in 535AD that seems to have instigated the spread of The Plague... I've always felt that that one 1-in-a-million event explains so much of the political events that happened thereafter...

[@ScapularSaves]

Right now there is a Cumbre Vieja volcano is going on right now (Sept. 25, 2021) and expected to go on for a some time (maybe 55 days?). According to tubers the weather has cooled down. I looked at the temperature differences of La Palma and Gran Canaria it's about 20 degrees difference between the two Canary islands during this Volcano (circa 58 degrees F vs. 78 degrees F). So that is very interesting relative to Justinian's Plague if there was a mega volcano or meteorite or something that caused a year of clouds - we see in this micro-example at Canary islands of how the cooling effects of clouding is so real. Imagine the whole earth like this for a year?

[@avengeremiya6499]

I literally googled "How many people did the Black Plague kill" 5 minutes before I got the notification for this vid

[@lumenpraetorius4592]

One third to one half of the population of Europe.

[@lasera01]

@@lumenpraetorius4592 but Justinian Plague or The Black Death from Middle Ages ?

[@lumenpraetorius4592]

@@lasera01 Two different plagues. The question was concerned with the Black Death which spread throughout Europe in the mid-14th century. That was the plague I commented on. Estimates of the number of deaths resulting from the plague of Justinian are all over the place, from a low of 10-15 million people to a high of perhaps 100 million people. The truth is, we just don’t know.

[@lasera01]

@@lumenpraetorius4592 I know they are different in time .. I was asking to which one u reffer to

[@lumenpraetorius4592]

@@lasera01 The Black Death of the 14th century.

[@kotzpenner]

Came here from Dovahhatty's latest video. Truly depressing period of time

[@Mikefantasia22]

Didnt know this was coming so fast

[@velvetcroc9827]

Amazing how despite this catastrophe they were still able to pull their shit together, invade Italy again and finally erase the Ostrogoths from history.

[@matthewbittenbender9191]

Legend has it that that Caesar declared "Dolus eius" because it was an election year. His last words were "E tu plague?"

[@user-ll9hb3sd8h]

The hospital was a Greco-Byzantine invention where the modern concept of "Hospital" was born and they had a lot of Hellenistic knowledge of medicine, they even created a type of literature in Constantinople for medical purposes only based on classical Greek literature and knowledge, so its wrong to attribute the creation of the hospital to the Romans...

[@user-ll9hb3sd8h]

@@Anda146 Oh no the muslims got many knowledge and inventions from the Greeks in the Heraclius age and from them they got the Hospitals and Universities in their modern meaning.

[@user-ll9hb3sd8h]

@@user-be4nm1fq5w It seems that nowadays when we do not like to hear something shocking we call it propaganda... Well, it is a shame but perhaps you are tracing the origin of the hospitals to the Roman military camps that have nothing to do with the other. The Byzantine hospital was pushed by Greek philanthropic philosophies, it is not surprising that most monasteries and churches offered these services, just as they did in classical and Hellenistic Greece.

[@user-ll9hb3sd8h]

@@user-be4nm1fq5w Selfish and pathetic is to make allegations without any historical support, it is Wikipedians like you who seek historical explanations in their basic knowledge without any professional support and cling to these explanations as "legitimate". Byzantinists like John Haldon and Anthony Kaldellis have raised and endorsed the idea that indeed, the Byzantine hospital was born out of these thoughts derived from Greek philosophy and if you wanted to trace it back to some Christian philosophy, surprise! They mostly derive from Greek philosophy.

[@user-ll9hb3sd8h]

@@user-be4nm1fq5w Again you show how inattentive you are, I never said that the hospital was a Greek creation, the Byzantine hospital is in general a derivation of these humanistic thoughts, the hospital as such is something extremely universal.

[@Michael_the_Drunkard]

"The gods are angry", that totally happened in front of the Hagia Sophia.

[@Macktube]

I came here to learn more after playing A Plague Tale Requiem.They mentioned it in that game.

[@gifteddragon5073]

Looking at American history we can get a sense off where the Plague comes from, the Scythian tribes that we see that broke into these Vandals, Visigoth, lombards Etc that usurped the European lands, would have came in contact with some Roman during battles in northern lands, if we take the time into account when these barbaric tribes started to usurp Europe, we can see that this plague is about that time lil after! Because of the details the Greeks and many other cultures made of these barbaric tribes some accounts say they are the “ filthy, abominable races”, so with sources speaking of the Filth of which these people came from, to the point they built Great walls not only in China to block these people. Between, the “Filthy”races who are now right beside them, and the corpse from the wars that would help the spread we can easily conclude it’s source.

[@ashmirsmith6890]

Was i the onlyone to notice the suez canal existing 500 years too early? XD

[@adrianpanaite6161]

And when Invicta shows that map says so something about Romanians not Romans. 😊 Nevertheless great video. This how an epidemics could disrupt a society through big mortality. No comparison with COVID-19 where there's anything but self-destruction.

[@bernardokrolo2275]

Gooood point..well done bro

[@gustavgans5630]

Hi, just found your Channel, Nice just hit the bell. Can you please tell me the source od the mention of the body, supernatural vision.

[@Calintares]

I believe archeological evidence from Scandinavia indicate a 90% reduction in settlements during about that period. There's some evidence to suggest that some of the norse myths about Ragnarok have their origin in that event

[@corvus2512]

The byzantine empire and the slow defeat is my favorite historical period and subject, Justinian, Heraclius and alexios my favorite emperors

[@chipwalter4490]

There is a double ending on this video. There is a double ending on this video.

[@HiltTilt]

Seems only a few caught this lol, Still a great video

[@Blalack77]

The history of the Roman Empire is interesting and fascinating but its decline is kind of a bummer. It's an even bigger bummer how this plague pops up after so much progress made by Justinian at restoring the empire. The fall of Constantinople is also a really big bummer. But I guess endings lead to new beginnings and stuff like this made way for other things to happen - it's just, after such a long and storied history, it's just sad to hear how it all crumbled. I always think about how interesting it would be if you could go back in time and explain to someone (who would listen and utilize the information) the causes of these plagues and how to treat and prevent them, etc.

[@ouafallouz]

You repeated your conclusion twice at the end. Otherwise, excellent video, as always!

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

This feels like an omen.

[@WilsonGodoyUmBrindeAEssaPorra]

history tends to repeat itself

[@lushbIood]

the worst part about this history repeating is the bacteria are evolving much faster than mammal hosts. in simple terms, we're normal humans perpetually racing against usain bolt of mutation and evolution

[@praem9597]

Propaganda is no omen. The Justinian plague was completely exagerated. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6926030

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@praem9597 One paper does not make it a fact

[@leonardmichaelmarkrandrup2375]

The angels of death harvested souls en masse.

[@fattyMcGee97]

The fleas would jump from person to person, not just from small mammals. This is why it was able to travel so fast while not causing mass death of rodents.

[@Brandazzo22]

Hey how about a Forgotten History episode over Ivaylo of Bulgaria. He leads the most successful peasant uprising to become Emperor of Bulgaria. The Smasher of Mongols, the bane of the Byzantium empire.

[@man-who-sold-the-world]

Human history is littered with with plagues etc, but people forget the lessons of the past. 21st century, people are dismissing covid because death rate is not high, but forgot today's medicine and knowledge is more advanced then in the past.

[@frankenbeans9346]

But that's why we enjoy the medicine of today isn't it? So society can keep functioning at low death rates due to outbreaks instead of bringing everything to a grinding halt for fear that 70% of the work force would die. if the death rates were high as shit then I'd say lockdown, you can try to rebuild the mashed up economy with who's left. But the death rate is so low that it doesn't make sense to bust the economy and bring the country to near collapse ruining the lives of countless youths just for something that majority will survive from right?

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@frankenbeans9346 I don't know why it needs to be explained to you that "let 'em die" is a fucked up position, but here we are. Even if the death rate is only .2%, are you going to tell me that we shouldn't be trying to save 6.6 million lives in America alone?

[@DoofusMonkey]

Imagine the most powerful country in the world, in 2020, reacting more poorly to to a plague than Constantinople did 1500 years ago.

[@TonyFontaine1988]

What are you talking about? Bubonic killed a huge percentage of the empire. You're comparing that to a virus that has two or three times more deadly mortality than the flu. Everytime I see a fool say something like this, I ask them the same question which they can never answer. "what would you have done differently"?

[@tobilandsfried8083]

@@TonyFontaine1988 lmao every other country has a better record against covid. The US is just stupid af. You have 25% death of all corona while having only about 3% of the world population

[@v4enthusiast541]

40% deathrate vs

[@v4enthusiast541]

@@tobilandsfried8083- It’s almost as if the United States has a huge population of obese people and boomers, the two most vulnerable groups to Covid

[@TonyFontaine1988]

@@tobilandsfried8083 you must have not been to Italy, the UK, Spain, France, and Germany. All have bad death percentages. It's alll about how countries report it

[@RailroadFanatic-hr6pf]

Poor Justinian, a man who happened to be the ruler during a devastating outbreak of disease and have it named after him.

[@kainalucarpiocuico5833]

Is it just me or does the arrival of this plague seem way too coincidental? I mean Justinian would have absolutely finished his reunion of rome and completely changed the timeline of humanity had this plague not struck at an eerily opportune time in history centuries before it arrived in full force across Europe.

[@somedragonbastard]

What's your point? Yeah it was a horrible time for plague to strike, but are you actually trying to claim it was some kind of conspiracy?