From 96CURTA@WMICH.EDU Fri Jan 23 08:10:45 1998
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 13:52:54 -0500
From: Florin Curta <96CURTA@WMICH.EDU>
Reply-To: LT-ANTIQ -- Late Antiquity Discussion Forum 
To: LT-ANTIQ@VM.SC.EDU
Subject: The plague in the Balkans

First, I would like to apologize to everybody for the previous, empty posting. I must have hit a wrong key. Here is a re-posting.

Speaking of the effects of the plague, Steve Muhlberger wrote:

The evidence that there was a change in settlement patterns and presumably the total population in various parts of the Mediterranean world is, for me, fairly persuasive. Warfare alone does not cause such shifts. In other words, I think the plague had a big effect.

I would be more cautious regarding changes in settlement patterns and my cautionary tale comes from the Balkans, an area in the immediate hinterland of Constantinople and thus close to the developments described there by Procopius. It is true that settlement patterns were under change during the sixth century, but the process had already started before the plague, as witnessed by many sites on which a phase of subdivision and encroachment was archaeologically attested (the process has been brilliantly described by Vladislav Popovic). I don't see how one could possibly associate such changes to the plague, particularly because there is NO evidence at all for its effects in any one of the otherwise well excavated sites of the northern Balkans. The process of encroachment and change of use seems to indicate a transformation that cannot be attributed to particular local causes, such as plague or invasion, but must have been connected to economic and administrative factors, above all to the relation of these sites to the central administration of the Empire. On the other hand, settlement pattern changes in coastal areas are hardly visible. On the western coast of the Black Sea or on the Thracian coast of the Aegean Sea, there is clear evidence of economic activities and urban prosperity. Dyrrachium, Mesembria, Thessalonica, or Salona, along with Constantinople, continued to drain the urban population of the Balkans.

To my knowledge, the only evidence of the effects of the plague in the whole Balkan peninsula comes from Corinth: the mass burial of over one hundred adults and children, which was found in Reservoir IV at Lerna. One should however be reminded that Corinth was twice hit by earthquakes (522 and 551). One of the buildings severely damaged was the H. Leonidas basilica at Lechaion, built in the mid-fifth century. There is no indication of the plague in any of the cities on the western Black Sea coast, despite clear evidence (such as the brick stamps with Justinian's name found in Mesembria or inscriptions at Tomis) of strong ties, most likely via sea trade routes, with Constantinople. There is also some evidence of contacts between sites in the interior and the Capital (such as Proconnese marble capitals), but apparently people travelling from Constantinople to other Balkan sites did not carry the plague with them. Strong connections to the Capital are also well attested at Chersonesus, in Crimea, but, again, I am not aware of any find that could indicate the plague's effects.

What all this suggests, in my opinion, is that the plague is most likely to have travelled along sea trade routes (just as, in 1347, it travelled from Caffa in Crimea to Italy). There is, however, no evidence that it did so on such a scale as to cause a change in settlement patterns. As for changes in "total population", I am afraid our ability to estimate sixth-century demographic changes is, at least in the Balkans, notoriously poor. I agree, nevertheless, that "warfare alone does not cause such shifts". But I am not sure the plague could be considered an eligible candidate for explaining such shifts.

That the situation described above is not the result of poor documentation is suggested by an episode often ignored by historians dealing with the 542 plague. According to Theophylact Simocatta--who wrote in the 630s on the basis of a late sixth- or early seventh-century source (the so-called Feldzugsjournal)--, when the Avars conquered Drizipera (a city in Europe, not far from Constantinople) in 598, "the barbarian hordes were stricken by a sudden visitation of plague (athroa gar epiphoitesei loimou ta ton barbaron peripiptousi plethe)" (VII 15.2). Among the victims were the chagan's sons (cf. VII 15.9). It is not at all clear whether the plague was 'brought' by the Avars to Drizipera or was 'found' there by their invading army. I am inclined to give credit to the second option, because there is no other indication of plague-stricken Avars in their otherwise well-documented history in the 580s and 590s. If so, then the episode cited is a good example of a rather random pattern of diffusion.

Back to Cover

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page