Reading John of Ephesus via Procopius of Caesarea?

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this article is to revisit the comparison between the accounts of the Justinianic plague of 541–750 CE, the first recorded pandemic of bubonic plague, by John of Ephesus and Procopius of Caesarea, as done by the scholar of Byzantine history, Anthony Kaldellis, in a 2007 publication. In the article, I critique some of Kaldellis’s main points of comparison, and then by approaching plague as a discourse (in the Foucaultian sense), I attempt to provide a more nuanced reading and comparison of the individual accounts, and of ancient plague discourse more generally.