Reviewing the Justinianic Plague: History and Sources
On-demand recording of the July 2026 workshop
Missed the live session? Purchase lifetime access to the full video recording of Reviewing the Justinianic Plague: History and Sources, held on 25 July 2026. The recording (approximately two hours) walks through the primary literary sources of the Justinianic Plague (541–c. 750 CE), placing Procopius, John of Ephesus, Evagrius Scholasticus and other witnesses at the centre of discussion. All texts are provided in English translation. After checkout on Gumroad you receive an immediate download link for the video; a PDF reading pack accompanies the recording.
- 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.