Portion of painting by Josse Lieferinxe depicting the clergy's reaction to a gravedigger afflicted during the plague of Justinian.

Rats, Fleas, and Grain Ships: How a Small Bacterium Rode a Very Big Empire into Crisis

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…