china confirmed its first official covet 19 fatality on the 11th of january 2020.
today the global death toll is nearing 5 million and the urge to compare covit 19 to historical
pandemics becomes more pressing as frightening milestone after frightening milestone has reached
global mortality has already eclipsed those of the 1950s and late 1960s pandemics influenza mers sals
and 2009 swine flu while we can now confirm that copper 19 is one of the 10 deadliest plagues in
the world's history it's hardly a blip on the radar when compared to the plague of justinian
the plague of justinian spread through europe beginning around 541 a.d killing up to a quarter
of the eastern mediterranean population and likely as much as 10 of the world's population
number 10 the first pandemic in human history the plague of justinian which
emerged in 541 a.d is regarded as the first pandemic in recorded human history since
it ravaged three continents the scourge may have begun in egypt and been distributed to
other continents mostly through merchant ships afflicted with disease-carrying rodents when
the plague arrived in constantinople it killed approximately 300 000 people in the first year
alone the plague was named after justinian the byzantine emperor who ruled from a.d 527
the plague struck just as emperor justinian was attempting to restructure his empire to
reflect the splendor of ancient rome both his military forces and the empire's economy were
ultimately destroyed by the plague emperor justinian also contracted the plague and
yet unlike many others he survived 9. the same microorganism also caused the black death
a tiny microorganism known as yesenia pestis caused not only the plague of justinian but
also the black death despite the fact that each epidemic strains were markedly different
they both had disastrous consequences between 1347 and 1351 the black death killed between 50
and 200 million europeans the justinian plague on the other hand killed over 100 million people
in north africa asia arabia and europe in just 50 years despite taking place hundreds of years apart
both plagues are acknowledged to have been spread by rodents and their fleas which transmitted the
deadly bacteria to humans in fact rodents still carry strains of the original microbes today
and have been blamed for spreading the plague throughout europe in the 1400s but
more specifically most historians agreed that the fleas on rats were responsible for the millions
of plague deaths however according to more recent research humans were in fact the primary carriers
of fleas and lice that spread the plague not rats number eight it destroyed the empire's economy
the epidemic struck justinian's empire killing not only people but also destroying the empire's
economy when looking at radiocarbon dates of seeds and other organic material from ancient
rubbish heaps even the collapse of the negev wine industry coincided with the plague of justinian's
aftermath the plague's first wave killed 20 of constantinople's population infection also
wreaked havoc on the trade port of alexandria wave after wave eventually wiped out up to half of the
byzantine empire's population during the next 160 years as thousands of farmers died once fertile
fields were left to become overgrown with weeds the economy as a whole took massive hits bakers
began to die out and the availability of bread became scanned the marketplace traders either
died of the plague or grew too afraid to venture outside for fear of contracting it trade came to
a halt as a result of the daily deaths of so many people people went hungry and those who might have
survived the epidemic and no food or caregivers to assist them get through it it was a never-ending
spiral of death and of misery 7. its symptoms were terrifying the justinian plague would begin with a
low grade fever it didn't seem like anything to be concerned about until a few days later when
pustules began to form the terrible pus-filled boils were an instantly recognizable indication
that someone was infected around this point the victims would typically fall into a coma and die
those less fortunate would become delirious and deranged they were frequently psychotic and
nearly impossible to care for all of this would take place in the space of a few days it was a
fast-acting scourge that began as a mild infection and left too many corpses in its wake for the
living to bury the byzantine scholar procopius characterized the victim's pain and misery and
stated that some died almost immediately after the onset of the first symptoms however his
reporting may not be 100 accurate according to procopius the plague killed up to 10 000
people every day but historians believe the daily death toll was actually closer to five thousand
six christians believed the plague was demonic of nature considering that medical science as
we know it did not exist at the time of the justinian plague people got extremely creative
as they dreamed up their own explanations for its occurrence according to historian procopius
many people actually believed the disease was caused by a malicious spirit or demon the demon
was believed to appear to people either in their dreams or just as they were having to wake up
those who saw the demon would contract the plague people of the time reasoned that preventing the
demon from entering their homes would keep the demon away from them while they slept
people started boarding up their doorways and windows and would not allow any visitors entry
no one was allowed in including friends and family it was the only way they knew how to prevent the
disease from infecting them and from what we know today to them their beliefs appear to be justified
5. their beliefs led to a rise in exorcisms unlike the well-known influenza pandemic that ravaged the
world in 1918 the justinian plague did not simply kill people quickly and painlessly as previously
stated newly infected individuals would first develop a fever followed by the formation of black
pus-filled blisters bacteria spread through the lymphatic system causing massive grapefruit-sized
bulges to erupt from the victim's genitals armpits and behind the ear areas it's psychologically
harmed both infected and uninfected people as previously stated many christian believers assumed
that the plague was prompted by demons infecting humans as god's divine wrath as a result priests
started performing exorcisms on those who were infected regrettably the exorcisms were about as
effective as the medication that was available at the time they failed to stop the contagion
from killing its victims and the exorcisms would frequently only hasten the poor victim's death
before people literally wore their names on their clothing today many of us despise having to walk
around with name tags on display but it became a necessary requirement during the justinian
play particularly if you had a family because the plague spread so quickly people began wearing name
tags when they left their homes the tags which were usually worn on the wrist or upper arm were
the only way to guarantee proper identification if they were infected with the plague and
died away from home to put the sheer number of deaths into perspective during the peak of the
pandemic which lasted over three months between five thousand and ten thousand people died from
the plague in constantinople alone every single day naturally it became increasingly difficult
for families to bury their loved ones and justinian was eventually forced to appoint
state officials to deal with the dead number three body disposal became almost impossible
in the writings of both procopius and john of a thesis the plague is described in graphic detail
thanks to their endeavors we've come to learn that the disease's death toll quickly outpaced families
ability to bury their loved ones interestingly both witness accounts also revealed that
conditions in constantinople deteriorated to the point where the government was forced to intervene
which was unheard of at that time despite all efforts the epidemic killed so many
people that the city was unable to keep up with burials as the capital streets became littered
with bodies the emperor justinian dispatched his army to help with the burial of the dead
burial pits and ditches were eventually dug to accommodate the overflow as graveyards and tombs
filled up eventually bodies were thrown into buildings tossed into the sea and eventually
taken out to sea and thrown overboard number two justinian's aspirations led to the plague
as soon as justinian assumed power in 527 a.d he set out to re-establish the roman empire to its
original grandeur and revive the empire's enormous trade networks and territory with this ambition
came an intensification in his army and supply movements which was utilized to reclaim regions
that had been lost or weakened when the empire was divided justinian also didn't
shy away from demanding high taxes on his subjects in order to fund his expansion plans
so what was justinian's role in causing the plague well it is probably more accurate to
argue that he was responsible for the ideal circumstances that in fact fueled the pandemic
around the plague for one he imported massive amounts of grain from africa to feed his armies
as previously stated these ships also carried rats and their fleas which are thought to be the cause
of the plague whatever the origins justinian's designs produced a climate in which the disease
spread to people that were already debilitated by harsh taxes food scarcity and warfare number
one the microbe has been recovered and revived in the 1960s two sets of remains one female and the
other male were excavated near munich and germany they were thought to have died as a result of the
justinian plague scientists examined samples from both skeletons in 2016 and discovered
yesinia pestis inside the female skeleton's molar although the bacterium had degraded
over time scientists were nevertheless able to reconstruct the justinian plague and discovered
the commonalities with the black death scientists also discovered that similar to the black death
and covet the plague originated in china while any attempt to resurrect dead diseases is normally met
with fear the successful attempt to resurrect the justinian plague hardly raised an eyebrow
this could be due to the bacterium that causes the plague being regarded as an evolutionary
dead end or possibly because the majority of people have never heard of justinian's plague
however it's believed that today's antibiotics would be able to stop a plague outbreak in its
tracks so i hope you enjoyed this video and if you did you might be interested in another channel
that i run called biographics and ever since the start of the covert pandemic we've been doing
regular disease profiles over there explaining how different diseases evolved over time and
shape the course of human history there is a link to that channel below and thank you for watching