Reviewing the Justinianic Plague: History and Sources
A two-hour interactive workshop on Late Antiquity's first pandemic
Saturday, 25 July 2026 · 18:00 EEST
This two-hour interactive workshop invites students, early-career researchers, and scholars to explore the Justinianic Plague (541–c. 750 CE) through the voices of those who witnessed—or sought to explain—it. Rather than focusing on archaeology or scientific evidence, the workshop places primary literary sources at the centre of discussion. Working collaboratively, participants examine selected passages from Procopius, John of Ephesus, Evagrius Scholasticus and other contemporary writers, considering how these authors constructed narratives of catastrophe and reflected the social, political, and religious concerns of the sixth century. All texts are provided in English translation. Session: 25 July 2026, 18:00 (Athens).
- 01Historical context
The Justinianic Plague (541–c. 750 CE): geography, chronology, and historiography.
- 02Procopius
Reading the plague narrative in the Wars and the Secret History.
- 03John of Ephesus & Evagrius Scholasticus
Ecclesiastical history and eyewitness testimony.
- 04Guided source analysis
Comparing accounts: causes, symptoms, meaning, and memory.
- 05Discussion
Fear, faith, and power — what the literary record reveals and conceals.
Zoe Tsiami works at the intersection of religious history and social history in the late antique and Byzantine Mediterranean. Her scholarship attends to the everyday textures of Christian life — persecution, memory-making, liturgy, and civic identity — from the age of the martyrs through the middle Byzantine centuries.