The Justinian Plague in Latin Sources (6th-8th Centuries): Reality and Cultural Construction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51349/veg.2024.2.27Keywords:
Justinian Plague, Late Antiquity, Written Sources, Conceptual HistoryAbstract
We examine how the “Justinian Plague” (or “First Pandemic”) could have influenced the post-Roman mind in the medium term. We start from an analysis of the written sources of the Latin West. In these, the terms and themes linked to the plague show that it probably did leave a strong impression on the society as a whole. After the first experiences, the successive outbreaks of plague could have created a particular way of approaching it in the social imaginary, which lasted after the conclusion of the epidemic outbreaks.
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