The very first pandemic on record didn’t start with drama. The Plague of Justinian (541 – 549 CE) started with fleas, grain shipments, and a supply chain doing exactly what it was designed to do. We owe a lot of what we know to Procopius of Caesarea (Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς), a Byzantine historian whose works…
The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul is one of the most remarkable buildings in the world. It was completed in 537 CE during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Originally built as a Christian cathedral, it has undergone multiple “rebrands” over the centuries: it became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest, then a…
