Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire Kindle Edition

I love history. Especially classical history. This book has two glaring issues that made a history lover grumble all the way through it. Note I have the audible edition.#1. You won't even get to anything closely related to Justinian until you are two hours into it. It will take another four hours before you get to the plague. The author's digressions within digressions will gradually peel away your will to live.#2. The narration is jarring and robotic -- painful. I put my audible app "skip ahead" to 90 seconds and used it liberally after enough hours of my time had been burned away, along with any hope the writing would somehow make up for the terrible narration.

First and foremost this is a history that interweaves the plague with the people, circumstances and events during the reign of Emperor Justinian. It isn't a history of the science of the first great plague though JUSTINIAN'S FLEA includes plenty of scientific detail. The history begins a little before Justinian's reign and ends at the founding of the Islamic world all while chronicling the dozens of times bubonic plague reemerged throughout the empire. Though I've studied this era of the Roman empire, I'd never really associated with bouts of plague. Rosen persistently avoided the typical focus on the rather outlandish duo of Justinian and Theodora choosing to relate the stories of generals like Belisarius and administrators such as John the Cappadocian as well as an extensive section on the Hagia Sofia. I found this level of detail informed without overwhelming me while Rosen's often humorous depictions kept the book entertaining while covering an amazing amount of subject matter rather effortlessly.There are a few drawbacks for a potential reader despite the author's skill as a storyteller. Unfortunately, the intro itself is a bit awkward yet important because it's the lead in to the rest of the book. If I'd been the editor's editor, I'd have had him cut this section (which seems to be an inexplicable tie in to Ad Astra, really!) and replace it with a dedication and maybe a relevant quote or two. I suggest starting with the prologue. I'd also suggest using an atlas of antiquity. The only drawings included are of parts of maps that could fit on one page. Otherwise, Rosen describes the Hagia Sofia so vividly no visuals are needed. I'll probably find a coffee table book of it anyway. One other minor problem are year references that require going back two or three pages for clarification. This was especially an issue when Rosen discusses another event and its year before returning to the main timeline. Except for these issues and a brief return to outer space in the epilogue, Justinian's Flea has to be one of my all-time favorite books.Truly a mini-course could be built around Justinian's Flea. Two related works mentioned:Augustine's City of GodBoethius's Consolation of PhilosophyThe last page presents the plague's return in 1347 as the Great Mortality almost as a promo for John Kelly's The Great Mortality.And of course the end notes contain numerous references to source material.Maybe a peek at Ad Astra would be worthwhile as well ...

I bought this book because I'm interested in history - scientific history, specifically (NOT political history). This book bills itself as having to do with the epidemiology of The Plague and the dramatic and world-changing impact thereof. The title, subtitle and blurb on the back would have you believe it’s about science, epidemiology, the social history of the disease, and forensics involved in tracing it’s spread, effects, etc. Sounds fascinating! But the content of the book is actually about 5% related to any of those things. The other 95% is an extremely dense and dry geo-political history of the Roman and Persian Empires and their effect on the proto-European settlements which would eventually shape the European continent. So basically… all the snooze-fest stuff you used to fall asleep to in World History class. If you like that stuff, great. It’s reasonably well-written, very thorough and informative. I have to admit, I did learn a lot about quite a few Persian and Roman emperors, generals, soldiers, their family dramas, personality traits, politics, battles, marches, victories, defeats - yawn - what was I talking about?What really bugs me is how the book’s entire supposed thesis, as described very clearly and succinctly in the subtitle and elsewhere (How the Plague brought about the fall of the Roman Empire) is barely a footnote in the entire tome. In fact, when they do get around to talking about the impact of The Plague on the Roman Empire, it’s surprisingly dismissed as a “possible” factor. Not sufficient. Probably not even necessary. Basically, “We don’t really know and no one could ever really know.” Buried in the depths of this thick text is a single sentence which brings it all around, saying something to the effect of “Yeah, well, so maybe it mattered, maybe it didn’t. Everything probably would have worked out just about the same, with or without the plague” - What?? Are you kidding me? What a disappointment!I feel like the publisher was quite possibly intentionally attempting to ride the wave of popular science/sociology writing with multiple instances of misleading information on the cover - to no discredit of the author. Too bad. The book itself, to the right audience, would be a good one. But I’m not that audience and never would have spent my time or money having to learn that the hard way.

The bulk of this history book is devoted to the late stages of the Roman empire and Emperor Justinian's efforts to reclaim Italy and parts of Africa. There is less about the bubonic plague itself, which struck the empire in 541-542 CE. This is apparently because so few details have survived the 1500 years since then. By contrast, when the "Black Death" struck Europe again in the mid-1300s, we had diarists, church and state records that provide a detailed picture of what happened and when in just about all parts of Europe.William Rosen's narrative is easy and entertaining to read. For a historian, he does an excellent job of explaining the pathology of the plague's causative agent, Y. pestis, and how it is so deadly in humans once it gets going. As well, the major take-home lesson from the book is that the plague of Justinian had an enormous impact on the course of history. It decimated the populace and armies of the Roman empire. Partly as a result, the Muslim empires of the Middle East, where the plague was less deadly, were soon able to conquer Egypt, much of the rest of North Africa, and Spain.

A compelling volume on Justinian era, dealing with the emperor's achievements in reuniting the empire in the context of the interactions between the Roman, Mediterranean, and Eastern World at the time, the building of Hagia Sophia, Justinianic Code and the plague influence in the collapse of the classical civilization.Full of facts, ideas and very readable, jumps from one theme to another sometimes in surprising directions. The in-depth description of the bacterium evolvement feels like another book.Justinian as a person doesn't get enough attention and the influence of plague might not have been as important as his theory implies but I found the book enchanting and I have to re-read it at some point in the future.

"Justinian's Flea" is subtitled, "Plague, Empire & the Birth of Europe". It is about no such thing. It is simply a selective account of events during the reign of the Emperor Justinian, and a pretty uneven one at that.The opening chapter is an introduction to the Byzantine empire, concentrating on the reign of Constantine the Great. The second chapter skates over the following two centuries very unsatisfactorily, seemingly in an attempt to get to Justinian as quickly as possible; but if that's the intention, why bother with such a superficial account of Constantine at all?Much of the rest of the book stays with Justinian, but while some events from his reign are covered in great detail (there's a fairly good account of Belisarius, for instance), others are passed over in a mere sentence or not mentioned at all, and one searches in vain for any objective selection criteria. There are much better accounts of this period: John Julius Norwich's superb "Byzantium" triology, for example, manages to leave one with a much better appreciation of Justinian's life and times despite using far fewer words.For a book which is supposed to show the impact of the plague on European life, it takes an astonishingly long time to get on to its subject matter. There are 325 pages of text, yet plague isn't mentioned until page 167, more than half way through the book. Plague then receives only two short chapters (much of the material here being in too much scientific detail to be able to hold the interest of the average history reader), before dropping out of the account other than for occasional afterthoughts. The book simply doesn't cover the material it claims to. There are laws against this kind of thing, you know.There are subjective parallels with events of modern history, and pointless digressions throughout. The Persians are introduced only to be removed from the story on account of (allegedly) the threat of the plague, and towards the end of the book there is a diversion into the silk trade - for what purpose, it's hard to say.And as for "the birth of Europe" - well, it receives precisely two and a half pages at the very end (yes, that's it - I'm not joking). These offer only a shallow and rather childish "what if" scenario, postulating that no plague would have meant no Holy Roman Empire, no Crusades, no Napoleon and no Hitler. What nonsense."Justinian's Flea" is a moderately interesting read of sixth century history, but it is no more than that. This is the first book by William Rosen, whom we learn has made his living more as a publisher than as a writer. One cannot help wondering whether a fellow-publisher backed this venture just to allow him to get one book to his own name. His own confession that this book was written in response to the question, "What would you do if you were unafraid to fail?" speaks for itself.Grammar and punctuation confirm to American standards, which is irritating for readers of British English. There are errata throughout, which should have been picked up by even an inexperienced proofreader.

This is a fascinating book written in a 'popular' rather than a strictly 'academic' fashion but it makes for a great read. The writer's absorption in early Byzantine history flows through every page and he has the good author's knack of keepinjg up the pace while not mnissing opportunities to entertain and inform. I have many academic texts on this period on my shelves and Rosen's book is worthy of a place deside them. Thoroughly recommended for new entrants to the world of Byzance.

fair price, prompt delivery and a good read

The blurb inside the front cover says that Rosen used to be head of a publishing house, and this is his first book. Implication: he's not a professional historian. Looking at his notes at the back, his historical sources seem to be based largely around just a few works;  Gibbon  looms large, plus some of the other usual suspects like  A. H. M. Jones  and  J. B. Bury . On the medical aspects of the  plague , Google seems to have been his friend here.Despite what on the face of it might seem the work of an amateur, this is actually quite a good, wide-ranging work, well written in spite of some occasionally odd usage of metaphor and digressions. It's not just about the plague but also considers the events of the couple of centuries leading up to  Justinian , and within the reign of Justinian itself has such diversions as chapters about the construction of  Hagia Sophia  and the codification of law in the  Institutes .There are flaws however, often sins of omission rather than commission, for example as I recall off the top of my head:- In discussing the Visigoths and their relationship to Rome, Rosen makes no mention whatsoever of the battle of the Frigidus in 394, which can be considered one of those turning points of history. The Visigoth army helped  Theodosius  defeat the usurper Eugenius, ensuring the continuation of Christian Rome, and Catholic at that, and the loss of 10,000 Visigoths, half their army, in the service of Rome, for little reward and still no homeland, certainly sowed the seeds of bitterness leading to the events of the early 5th century with Alaric and the sieges of Rome. To omit mention of this seems shockingly poor.- When discussing the collapse of the first dome of Justinian's Hagia Sophia, Rosen does not mention that it was first weakened by an earthquake and then collapsed after a second quake. He seems to imply as a result that it simply collapsed of its own accord.- In his biological discussion, he thinks that "metazoans" comprises all multicellular life - this is not the case, but rather corresponds roughly to what we call "animals".Looming in the background are two theses, thata) Rome and China went along parallel paths until the plague came to Rome, andb) the plague is responsible for the creation of mediaeval Europe (by assisting in the permanent breakup of the West, and conquest of the East, Africa & Spain by the Arabs).These theses seem somewhat debateable. Is Rosen implying that without the plague there might still today be some sort of gigantic political superpower covering Europe, North Africa and the Near East to match modern China? Seems unlikely to me. The ultimate causes of the lasting fragmentation of Rome were as much political, religious, military and 'racial' as medical.Despite the flaws, this is a book worth reading. GibbonA. H. M. JonesJ. B. BuryplagueJustinianHagia SophiaInstitutesTheodosius