Procopius

The Black Death of the fourteenth century did not occur in isolation. There had been many outbreaks of bubonic plague in the ancient world, and there would be more outbreaks in the centuries following the medieval period. One of the worst plague epidemics in history took place in the sixthcentury empire ruled by Justinian, the eastern Roman emperor who expanded his domains to include Greece, the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, southern Italy, and the eastern Mediterranean basin.

This plague was documented by the historian Procopius, who described its effects in his work known as the History of the Wars. Procopius interrupts his account of Justinian's military conquests with a description of the plague's origins and spread, its terrifying symptoms, and its complete disruption of daily life.

During these times there was a pestilence, by which the whole human race came...