This edited volume contains chapters written by a dozen of chiefly historians with an interest in epidemiology, ecology and archaeology. It tries to link major historical developments transforming the heritage of the Roman Empire into the multicultural pattern of modern Europe, West Asia and North Africa to the impact of a long-lasting pandemic of plague that occurred in sporadic outbursts between the mid-sixth century of the Common Era and mid-eighth century. During those 200 years Islam began and helped the rapid spread of Arabs, the Byzantine Empire was shaped as an entity distinct from the earlier Roman Empire, while in Western Europe the Carolingian dynasty arose with the Roman papacy becoming prominent. The centuries of the plague ushered Middle Age into history.

The effects the plague had on the human pressures on the physical environment, on human nutrition, social relations and even human imagination are discussed using data from a variety of historical sources written in a variety of languages including Syriac and Old Irish, archaeological evidence and the recent contributions of molecular biology.

The final chapter of the book, by Robert Sallares, may be of special interest to human biologists as it discusses the ecology and epidemiology of plague and the evolution of its pathogen. It follows that both humans, with their complex societies, and simple bacteria undergo co-evolution within a broad systemic framework.