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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

12. A Horrible Way to Go

victims of the black death — Disposing of the corpses of Black Death victims. Imgur

By all accounts, the Black Death was a terrible way to go. It was especially horrific in its most common form, the Bubonic Plague, named after the buboes, or swellings, that marked its victims. Painful swellings, or buboes, first appeared in the groin and armpits, where fleas infested with the plague gravitated. The first swellings usually occurred near the site of the initial infection, caused by the flea’s bite, or by the victim’s scratching of the bite site. From there, the buboes spread to the rest of the body. Next came a high fever, accompanied by bouts of vomiting blood. Muscle cramps, chills, skin decomposition, and severe seizures, were also among the plague’s symptoms. The victims tossed and turned in the throes of agonized delirium as they burned up with a steadily worsening fever.

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.