The Plague of Justinian. The bubonic plague reaches Europe. It is likely the first true pandemic in history, considering the known world, in the Mediterranean basin. It has been reconstructed that the plague originated in the Nile region, then spread thousands of kilometers in 18 successive waves, lasting until the year 755, when it disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as it had arrived. A key moment will be the year 590, when the plague reaches Rome, the capital of Christianity, which, according to tradition, is saved in extremis by the Archangel Michael. The archangel, sheathing his sword after banishing the plague, is commemorated by the statue on Hadrian’s Mole. The building is called Castel Sant’Angelo. The plague sometimes provokes a surge in religiosity, but sometimes also pushes in the opposite direction: how can the death of so many innocent children be justified? Some were led to the terrifying conclusion that there could be no God. It is not atheism, perhaps, but a silent, mostly unexpressed desperation, a psychological shock.
