ABSTRACT
In 1969 a groundbreaking article on the Justinianic Plague was published by Biraben-Le Goff. Combining a short but profound medical and epidemiological presentation of the disease based on the latest scientific data and using a wide range of sources they have succeeded in providing a basic reference work for all future attempts to deal with this subject. Although this article is primarily centred on the history of the disease in the barbarian West, both the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic realm are taken into account. In 1981 T. L. Bratton published an extensive study on the Justinianic plague in what appears to be a synthesis of previous work on this topic with little personal contribution. The largest part of the study is taken up with the linking of modern medical data to those that derive from the narrative of Procopius, who is — with the exception of one short mention in Euagrius — the only Byzantine source used in Bratton's work.
