The ‘Justinianic Plague’: An “Inconsequential Pandemic”? A Reply
Mischa Meier
Abstract
The article takes up an essay published in PNAS 116 (2019), whose authors try to show that the ‘Justinianic Plague’ did not have any demonstrable major effects and in particular cannot be considered a “watershed event” between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. This attempt to argue against a “maximalist position”, however, contains considerable methodological weaknesses, which are pointed out. It is also argued that the plague must certainly be given a place in the transitional process between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages; this has less to do with demographic aspects than with cultural, religious and social developments. Even if recent scientific data and new analytical methods suggest precise and objective answers to much-discussed questions and this approach currently enjoys broad public support in the media, this material, too – so the conclusion – requires a differentiated discussion that does not make any hasty reductions in complexity and can only be achieved in interdisciplinary cooperation.