[Antoninus]

Here's an eyewitness account of the Plague of Justinian written by the 6th century historian, Evagrius Scholasticus:

"Work of Every Description Ceased" ~ First hand accounts of the Plague of Justinian, 6th century AD

[Billthedrill]

Nice link. This sort of thing always annoys me:

In 2019-20, several studies, widely publicised in the media, argued that historians had massively exaggerated the impact of the Justinianic Plague and described it as an ‘inconsequential pandemic’.

Controversial claims because the authors wanted to sell books. People who lived through it had very different words for it and it is difficult to exaggerate one's family dying. Here, for example, is what Procopius said about it:

During these times there was a pestilence, by which the whole human race came near to being annihilated. (more at the link) - History of the Wars, II.xxii-xxxiii

[SunkenCiv]

• "Work of Every Description Ceased" ~ First hand accounts of the Plague of Justinian, 6th century AD [04/01/2020]
• Plague in humans 'twice as old' but didn't begin as flea-borne, ancient DNA reveals [07/28/2019]
• The Justinian Plague of 562 A.D. an Electromagnetic Drama? [11/02/2015]
• Plague Victims Discovered After 1500 Years (Justinian) [04/10/2008]
• An Empire's Epidemic (Justinian Plague) [09/18/2006]
• Black Death may have scuppered Roman Empire [01/28/2014]

  ---

• UK 'plague village' offers lesson for a country under lockdown [03/24/2020]
• Medieval Plague May Explain Resistance to HIV [03/10/2005]
• The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death [10/09/2015]

  ---

• Scientists Discover Why Plague Is So Lethal [05/05/2008]
• Bubonic Plague Traced To Ancient Egypt (Black Death) [03/11/2004]
• A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis (Yersinia pestis is discovered in a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer from Latvia) [06/30/2021]

  ---

• Daily Kos Hates Humans: 'We Could Really Use a Global Superplague' [08/11/2011]