Plague effect on Byzantine empire not as great as suspected

[Imperial Dave]

https://greekreporter.com/2024/11/15/byzantine-empire-did-not-decline-plague/

Oooh...cat meet pigeons

[Erpingham]

Original article is here , for those who like the story from the horses mouth.

[Imperial Dave]

Indeed and much obliged

[DBS]

I must admit I am reminded of the complaint about the phrase "low intensity conflict" beloved of academics and armchair generals; when you are the one being shot at, there is nothing low intensity about it.  Likewise, if contemporary sources are talking about people dropping dead left, right and Tuesday, then it is rather... bold, nay courageous... of archaeologists to decry the texts too much.  Fair enough to say that perhaps the economic impact may not have been too bad, but the psychological trauma should not be dismissed, and mass psychological trauma is potentially deeply relevant to the history of the period.

[Ian61]

Winced at misuse of 'decimated'. Plague sometimes did much worse.
I am sure I heard something on the radio (the long view?) a little while ago quoting a North African bishop of the time lamenting that the end of time seemed to be upon them and that the death toll had been heavy. Not sure that focus on the Negev is that helpful. Survivors would keep up as much as possible and might have benefited by having less mouths to feed.?

[Imperial Dave]

Yep. It does make you think about how these things are put into context...or not

[Erpingham]

I'm not sure their archaeology is wide enough to sustain the idea on its own against the literary evidence. Perhaps other work could examine a broader geography and type of evidence to see if they are correct?