ABSTRACT
The phenomena recorded in the catalogue, though singular in their constellation of occurrence, were in fact not as unique as might appear at first glance, inasmuch as the mechanisms that caused them and the manner in which they were presented by contemporary sources followed specific patterns, regularities shaped by a network of stable, slow-moving elements in human history. The plague’s massive dissemination was a side-effect of the widespread network of water routes and roads that was one of the chief achievements of the Roman Empire. These were widely used both for trade and for war, connecting in both instances the Inside of the empire with the Outside, in all geographical directions. The Justinianic Plague was the first instance of ‘the unification of the world through disease’.
