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Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe
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The Emperor Justinian reunified Romes fractured empire by defeating the Goths and Vandals who had separated Italy, Spain, and North Africa from imperial rule. In his capital at Constantinople he built the world's most beautiful building, married its most powerful empress, and wrote its most enduring legal code, seemingly restoring Rome's fortunes for the next five hundred
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Hardcover, 367 pages
Published
December 31st 2007
by Viking Books
(first published January 1st 2007)
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Start your review of Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe
Can you say “bait and switch”?
Justinian’s Flea, as its title, description, and introduction are eager to announce, examines how the bubonic plague epidemic in the sixth century contributed to the demise of the Roman Empire. Already on shaky ground but no means down for the count, the empire was struggling to maintain a hold on its lands in western Europe—including Rome itself—even as the Persians and Huns intermittently harried its eastern borders. The plague ravaged the empire’s labour base, sh ...more
Justinian’s Flea, as its title, description, and introduction are eager to announce, examines how the bubonic plague epidemic in the sixth century contributed to the demise of the Roman Empire. Already on shaky ground but no means down for the count, the empire was struggling to maintain a hold on its lands in western Europe—including Rome itself—even as the Persians and Huns intermittently harried its eastern borders. The plague ravaged the empire’s labour base, sh ...more
A historical, biological and epidemiological study of the: social, technical, political and economic effect of the bubonic plague on the end of the Roman Empire and how it spurred development of Medieval Europe and the Middle East.
My ebook version was a moderate 390-pages. It had a 2007 US copyright.
William Rosen was an American historian and author of non-fiction. He wrote more than five (5) books. He passed in 2016. This is the second book I’ve read by the author.
This book is a somewhat disjo ...more
My ebook version was a moderate 390-pages. It had a 2007 US copyright.
William Rosen was an American historian and author of non-fiction. He wrote more than five (5) books. He passed in 2016. This is the second book I’ve read by the author.
This book is a somewhat disjo ...more
This was a challenging book to read, even though I have a keen interest in the subject matter. William Rosen makes a valiant effort to tie together the collapse of classical civilization with the emergence of the Black Plague in the mid-7th century, but what's lacking is a clear or coherent narrative flow or thesis.
Some of Rosen's prose is quite compelling, especially in the middle section where he describes the mechanics of the plague bacterium itself and how it could have such a devastating i ...more
Some of Rosen's prose is quite compelling, especially in the middle section where he describes the mechanics of the plague bacterium itself and how it could have such a devastating i ...more
May 18, 2012
Carol Smith
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history,
nonfiction
I try to only read good books and kinda knew I was taking a leap of faith with this one, but the title hooked into me good. I should have fought the line. This book fails on so many levels. Where to start?
First, the title is blatantly false advertising. This book is only nominally about the plague. The author sets forth a highfalutin thesis and methodology complete with interplanetary analogies and tapestry weaving metaphors that he then completely ignores until the last 5 or so pages of the boo ...more
First, the title is blatantly false advertising. This book is only nominally about the plague. The author sets forth a highfalutin thesis and methodology complete with interplanetary analogies and tapestry weaving metaphors that he then completely ignores until the last 5 or so pages of the boo ...more
Very well written, (almost unbearably) informative; reads like a mystery novel. Bubonic plague during Justinian's sixth-century reign -- much here to interest devotees of the place and period. Wonderful perspective, engagingly written -- self-deprecatory style, tongue-in-cheek erudition.
Drawbacks: eccentric organization of material, abrupt leaps and maddening changes of subject and times. Irritating when the reader is trying to navigate through unfamiliar names and battles.
That said, it's well w ...more
Drawbacks: eccentric organization of material, abrupt leaps and maddening changes of subject and times. Irritating when the reader is trying to navigate through unfamiliar names and battles.
That said, it's well w ...more
As a rule it’s great getting recommendations from friends. An exception may occur if your friend is way more of an expert on the book’s topic than you are. In this case, said friend is a Roman history buff. To him, a book that assumes you already know the cast of characters in late antiquity, who conquered who, and how it all plays out in the end is just fine. That leaves more time for the smaller tiles of the mosaic instead. Unfortunately for me, a book with “Idiot” or “Dummy” in the title woul
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If you like (and I do) the Simon Winchester approach to historical events, i.e., lots of tangents and background before the actual kickoff, then you would like Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe. It starts out with Constantine and the transfer of Roman rule to Constantinople, the various migrations and invasions of the Goths, Visigoths, Huns, Vandals, etc. A chapter on the destruction of the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) cathedral and designing/building the structure we see t
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I was pretty excited about this book because the plague of the 14th century gets so much more attention than Justinian's Plague, but I found Justinian's Flea rambeling and unfocused. The first half is a detailed history of Rome after it's split in two by Diocletian up to the reign of Justinian, and there's a chapter devoted to the scientific aspect of plague, but it's all downhill after that. I learned some interesting random facts about the Byzantine Empire, but not very much about Justinian's
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This could have been so much more.
The title of Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe promises so much - the last great Roman Emperor (or first Byzantine Emperor, if you prefer), the Bubonic Plague, how the plague helped create the series of nation-states that have made up Europe for centuries. Throw in the Silk Road and how the Europe was able to get its own silk worms, Justinian's multi-faceted wife Theodora, Belisarius and a discussion of how the Bubonic plague may have ...more
The title of Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe promises so much - the last great Roman Emperor (or first Byzantine Emperor, if you prefer), the Bubonic Plague, how the plague helped create the series of nation-states that have made up Europe for centuries. Throw in the Silk Road and how the Europe was able to get its own silk worms, Justinian's multi-faceted wife Theodora, Belisarius and a discussion of how the Bubonic plague may have ...more
What a disappointing book. I really had to choke it down and by the fifth chapter without so much as a sentence devoted to the topic of plague I was actually double checking the description on the inside cover flap to make sure I didn't have the wrong book. It would've been better off titled "The Life and Times of Justinian, Rome's Last Great Emperor." While there is some mention of plague, it isn't actually brought up till nearly half way through the book. There is no real direction or point th
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Oct 24, 2017
Kimba Tichenor
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
european-history
No cohesive argument or narrative thread. The author simply strings together everything he knows about Justinian's reign: from his military campaigns, to the sexual exploits of his wife, to the theological questions of the age to architectural challenges of the day. Yes, some of the information presented is interesting, but without a central argument or unifying theme, it simply does not work.
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So, wow, I hadn't realized that I knew pretty much nothing about the Roman empire. I wasn't expecting cavalry, for example.
***
A more appropriate title would have been The Final Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. It was an interesting stroll through the demise of the Roman empire and the creation of medievalism and European nationalism. Educational and fun, because Rosen shares his digressions and random bits he picked up. There is a really good section on the Persian Empire. But plague, not so m ...more
***
A more appropriate title would have been The Final Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. It was an interesting stroll through the demise of the Roman empire and the creation of medievalism and European nationalism. Educational and fun, because Rosen shares his digressions and random bits he picked up. There is a really good section on the Persian Empire. But plague, not so m ...more
I was very impressed with this book. Focused exclusively on the reign of Justinian the Great, the author provides an in-depth look at the Byzantine empire from the loss of its western provinces to the beginning of the rise of Islam. Even more remarkable was the extensive discussion of the plague that devastated the Mediterranean area for approximately 200 years which began during Justinian’s early reign. The author provides several chapters of bacteria discussion, epedemiology, human migration,
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Long fascinated with the staggering speed at which early Islam expanded, I found that this book fills in several empty tiles in the puzzle. While historians, including those sympathetic to Islam, tend to focus on decisive battles like Badr and Yarmuk, it seems strange that a small cadre of converts from a remote desert fastness could by force of arms alone have conquered lands from the Atlantic to the Chinese border, almost as fast a one can walk the distance, against the resistance of Byzantine
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‘Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe’
It took me a while to get into the rhythm of Mr Rosen’s writing, but once I did I couldn’t put this book down. I was fascinated by the building of the Hagia Sophia, interested in the presentation of the life, times and achievements of the emperor Justinian during the 6th century and engrossed by the possible impact of the flea on the building of empires.
In this book, Mr Rosen provides a number of interpretations which can (and are) debated. People may argu ...more
It took me a while to get into the rhythm of Mr Rosen’s writing, but once I did I couldn’t put this book down. I was fascinated by the building of the Hagia Sophia, interested in the presentation of the life, times and achievements of the emperor Justinian during the 6th century and engrossed by the possible impact of the flea on the building of empires.
In this book, Mr Rosen provides a number of interpretations which can (and are) debated. People may argu ...more
Justinian’s Flea, now that will catch your eye. Then the description, just take a look at it, promised a richly textured tale about the plague. I clicked. Now, nearly twelve hours of listening later, I feel gypped, because that isn’t what I got. Instead of being about the plague, the author delivers a dry history of the fall of the Roman Empire with a detailed description of Plague forced in between battles.
So while I learned a lot, it was such a disjointed, rambling sort presentation that I ...more
So while I learned a lot, it was such a disjointed, rambling sort presentation that I ...more
The story of how a pandemic, driven in part by climate change, destroyed an empire and left Europe an appreciably worse place for centuries. I've had this book for 13 years, but ever since the Event obliged me to work in the room where it sits, it's been glaring at me. I dodged it in 2020 by tacking a different account of late antiquity instead, one which devoted less space to these millions of deaths than it did to the decor in a single church in Ravenna. But as we entered a second year of this
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Well. I've learnt some things from this book. More than I bargained for, perhaps. I didn't hate this book. It's just not at all what it was advertised to be.
I will begin by adjusting the title of the book somewhat. Perhaps A History of 5th and 6th Century Rome: Empire and the Birth of Europe with a dash of Plague. I picked this book up several years ago, intrigued by the idea, as set out in the introduction, that an outbreak of Plague could have been the thing that tipped the Roman Empire over ...more
I will begin by adjusting the title of the book somewhat. Perhaps A History of 5th and 6th Century Rome: Empire and the Birth of Europe with a dash of Plague. I picked this book up several years ago, intrigued by the idea, as set out in the introduction, that an outbreak of Plague could have been the thing that tipped the Roman Empire over ...more
Interesting but ultimately disappointing history of the Roman Empire during Emperor Justinian's reign in the 6th century. I was drawn to this book because I really knew little about the pre medieval political map of the Empire except that it had moved its focus and capitol east to Asia Minor. It did fill in some of the blank areas although I did get lost in the names of all the different non Roman groups, places and cities and the religious schools of thought which were the source of conflict an
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You might think a book titled "Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire" would be about...well, plague. That's why I read it, because I'm interested in microbiology and historical epidemic nonfiction. Sadly, plague doesn't even make an appearance in the book until 160+ pages into the book. The first half of the book is a broad, sweeping account of several hundred years of European history. Which is fine, if the book had been marketed as a European History book, bu
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An excellent read, but if you're expecting a straight narrative regarding the earliest known plague epidemic, look elsewhere. Rosen weaves in history from many different aspects: architecture, mathematics, burgeoning medical science, biographic summaries of many of Justinian's contemporaries, art, philosophy, religion, wars, etc. This is more of a wide-ranging look at the gradual move from antiquity to the medieval period, with the plague casting a shadow over the entirety. Meanders a bit, espec
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One of us, either the book or the reader, was unfocused. Probably me. It didn't help that the audiobook is narrated in a monotone.
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Don't be fooled (or afraid) by the grandiose title, most of the book is not about plague. In fact, it is a concise history of much of world in the 6th Century CE.
I didn't have much trouble with William Rosen's writing this time around. (I reviewed his book on the history of the Industrial Revolution here:The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention My main complaint there was that Rosen had bitten off more than he could chew, with topics ranging from history, pr ...more
I didn't have much trouble with William Rosen's writing this time around. (I reviewed his book on the history of the Industrial Revolution here:The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention My main complaint there was that Rosen had bitten off more than he could chew, with topics ranging from history, pr ...more
Several chapters in and no plague in sight. While I understand the importance of setting the scene and explaining the state of the empire when the plague appeared, there was too much. And even flipping through it seemed more political and military than social--which is what I was hoping for.
TL;DR: should have read the reviews on here before I started!
TL;DR: should have read the reviews on here before I started!
Poorly organized and factually questionable.
WONDERFUL! One of my favorite books is Hans Zinnser's "Rats, Lice and History: Being a Study in Biography, Which, After Twelve Preliminary Chapters Indispensable for the Preparation of the Lay Reader, Deals With the Life History of Typhus Fever", which introduced me to the wondrous intersection of science, art and history. Justinian's Flea evokes the feelings I experienced reading Zinnser's book for the first time when I was in high school. Rosen weaves the threads of the life of the late empero
...more
A damned interesting sort of a seven layer burrito of a book, wherein an intelligent and extremely well-read first-time author walks us through one of the less-examined tipping points in history. In spite of its very modest length, the book discusses early Christian theology, architecture, cultural history of the Huns, Chinese, Persians, Goths, Vandals and Franks, political intrigue and sports hooliganism(!) in the Eastern Roman Empire, military history, and thumbnail biographies of several of t
...more
What a mess! The premise of the book seemed interesting -- a look at how the first great plague contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire (okay I find that interesting). But this was a disconnected mishmash of overly-detailed tangents, lack of a coherent narrative and the highly annoying ploy of calling the Plague "the demon" EVERY time it is mentioned. While it whet my appetite for learning more about the later days of the Roman Empire -- this book certainly didn't sate that appetite. I could
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Ok I generally don't like to stop in the middle of a book but this one is difficult. I'm getting bogged down with a lot of history about the Roman empire that is just not interesting to me. I thought this book was going to focus more on the plague epidemic that weakened the empire. I may just skim ahead or leave it for a while.
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A very good history of an interesting time period. A lot of detailed information here, maybe not the best reading for the bus. It does reward concentration. See more at: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
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William Rosen was an historian and author who previously was an editor an publisher at Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and the Free Press for nearly twenty-five years. He lived in Princeton, New Jersey.
From recent obituary
William Rosen PRINCETON JUNCTION Author William Rosen, 61, whose works of narrative nonfiction include "Justinian's Flea" and "The Most Powerful Idea in the World: The Story of Stea ...more
From recent obituary
William Rosen PRINCETON JUNCTION Author William Rosen, 61, whose works of narrative nonfiction include "Justinian's Flea" and "The Most Powerful Idea in the World: The Story of Stea ...more
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“And not merely slogan-shouting, but debate. The Chronicle of the courtier Theophanes faithfully records a debate—perhaps disputation is the better word—between Justinian (through his herald, or mandatus) and the chosen representative of the Green faction. The dialogue is startling on a number of grounds. First, the Green “debater” addresses the emperor, the viceroy of Christ on earth, practically as an equal. He addresses Justinian respectfully—as “Justinianus Augustus”—but registers his complaint precisely as if he were doing so before a small claims court, informing the most powerful man in the world that “my oppressor can be found in the shoemaker’s quarter.” For his part, Justinian, though clearly aware that he holds what might be called a preemptive advantage (“Verily, if you refuse to keep silent, I shall have you beheaded”), still debates both the truth of the Green claims and the theological position that he suggests informs those claims. Justinian tells his interlocutor, “I would have you baptized in the name of one God” only to receive the response, “I am baptized in One God,” evidently an attempt to contrast his Monophysite sympathies with the emperor’s orthodoxy. The Green spokesman accuses the emperor of suppressing the truth, of countenancing murder, and when he has had enough, he ends with “Goodbye Justice! You are no longer in fashion. I shall turn and become Jew; better to be a pagan than a Blue, God knows…”14 The most telling part of the entire dialogue, however, is that it was”
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“In 531, Tribonian authored a regulation that required that before any trial or hearing could begin, everyone, including litigants and officials, was obliged to swear an oath of Christian faith while placing a hand on a copy of the Gospels…a requirement made easier by another regulation that ordered a copy of the Gospels placed in every courtroom.”
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