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The Black Death and Justinian’s Plague: History’s Worst Pestilences

Khalid Elhassan January 8, 2025 13 min

Plague - Illustration from the medieval Liber Chronicarum 1, depicting skeletons rising for the dance of death — Illustration from the medieval Liber Chronicarum 1, depicting skeletons rising for the dance of death. Live Science

3. A Plague That Might Have Been as Bad as the Black Death

Justinian’s Plague. Ancient History Magazine

The Black Death was history’s deadliest plague, but Justinian’s Plague, 541 – 542 AD, gives it a run for its money in lethality and consequences. It was named after Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, in whose reign it occurred – and who came down with it, but survived. It is history’s first known recorded pandemic, because it swept across three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Like the Black Death, Justinian’s Plague was caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium. Also like the Black Death, Justinian’s Plague struck with a devastating initial outbreak, followed by several recurrences in subsequent years. By the time the last recurrence ended and Justinian’s Plague died out, it had killed an estimated 25 million to 100 million people.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.