Professor Kyle Harper

is definitely facilitated by things that are going on on the steppe by Mongol takeover, the disruptions that follow that, then the networks of trade and conflict that connect Central Asia to Eastern Europe, the Black Sea. The Black Death comes across the nomadic world The plagues of late antiquity, so far as we can tell, seem not to, which is interesting.

The plague of Justinian in the 6th century, which is the plague, it's bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, it does come from Central Asia. We know the evolutionary origins of the plague lie in a pretty specific region. It's right at the intersection of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Western China, Xinjiang. Somehow, this bacterium doesn't have legs. It can't walk.

The plague of Justinian in the 6th century, which is the plague, it's bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, it does come from Central Asia. We know the evolutionary origins of the plague lie in a pretty specific region. It's right at the intersection of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Western China, Xinjiang. Somehow, this bacterium doesn't have legs. It can't walk.

The plague of Justinian in the 6th century, which is the plague, it's bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, it does come from Central Asia. We know the evolutionary origins of the plague lie in a pretty specific region. It's right at the intersection of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Western China, Xinjiang. Somehow, this bacterium doesn't have legs. It can't walk.

Something carries it, animals and people. We're piecing together, but I believe that this plague actually doesn't come across Central Asia. It actually goes down through South Asia and comes across the oceans And for whatever reason, it actually seems like the Indian Ocean world is a bigger network for the movement of all kinds of things in the Roman Empire.

Something carries it, animals and people. We're piecing together, but I believe that this plague actually doesn't come across Central Asia. It actually goes down through South Asia and comes across the oceans And for whatever reason, it actually seems like the Indian Ocean world is a bigger network for the movement of all kinds of things in the Roman Empire.

Something carries it, animals and people. We're piecing together, but I believe that this plague actually doesn't come across Central Asia. It actually goes down through South Asia and comes across the oceans And for whatever reason, it actually seems like the Indian Ocean world is a bigger network for the movement of all kinds of things in the Roman Empire.

Ivory, spice, silk, wine, gold, coral, all kinds of interesting things moving around the Indian Ocean, but this includes pathogens. I think we didn't know this until recently, really, that in fact, the kind of step as far as we can tell, seems not to be the main conduit. And that in itself is kind of this interesting comparative point that contrasts with the late Middle Ages.

Ivory, spice, silk, wine, gold, coral, all kinds of interesting things moving around the Indian Ocean, but this includes pathogens. I think we didn't know this until recently, really, that in fact, the kind of step as far as we can tell, seems not to be the main conduit. And that in itself is kind of this interesting comparative point that contrasts with the late Middle Ages.

Ivory, spice, silk, wine, gold, coral, all kinds of interesting things moving around the Indian Ocean, but this includes pathogens. I think we didn't know this until recently, really, that in fact, the kind of step as far as we can tell, seems not to be the main conduit. And that in itself is kind of this interesting comparative point that contrasts with the late Middle Ages.

Yeah, I think so. We're still debating, for instance, how do we think about the aftermath of 476. It's a huge date. It's not just symbolic. I mean, it is. It's symbolic. I mean, because we've all taught a history survey course, and you've got to give your students a date when the empire ends to put on the final exam, and 476 is a convenient one.

Yeah, I think so. We're still debating, for instance, how do we think about the aftermath of 476. It's a huge date. It's not just symbolic. I mean, it is. It's symbolic. I mean, because we've all taught a history survey course, and you've got to give your students a date when the empire ends to put on the final exam, and 476 is a convenient one.

Yeah, I think so. We're still debating, for instance, how do we think about the aftermath of 476. It's a huge date. It's not just symbolic. I mean, it is. It's symbolic. I mean, because we've all taught a history survey course, and you've got to give your students a date when the empire ends to put on the final exam, and 476 is a convenient one.

So it's a handy symbol, but it's clearly more than that. There's real underlying political change. But one of the things we still debate is, let's think about the 50 years that followed that. Is that a period of recovery? Is that a period of decline? This more or less Ostrogothic phase between the

So it's a handy symbol, but it's clearly more than that. There's real underlying political change. But one of the things we still debate is, let's think about the 50 years that followed that. Is that a period of recovery? Is that a period of decline? This more or less Ostrogothic phase between the

So it's a handy symbol, but it's clearly more than that. There's real underlying political change. But one of the things we still debate is, let's think about the 50 years that followed that. Is that a period of recovery? Is that a period of decline? This more or less Ostrogothic phase between the

the deposition of the last Roman emperor and the recovery of the Roman empire by the Eastern Rome under Justinian that takes back the Italian peninsula. And count me among the people who think that there may even be some kind of modest stabilization after 476 that the empire wasn't doomed to fall apart, and that even Justinian's reconquest wasn't a totally doomed effort from the beginning.

the deposition of the last Roman emperor and the recovery of the Roman empire by the Eastern Rome under Justinian that takes back the Italian peninsula. And count me among the people who think that there may even be some kind of modest stabilization after 476 that the empire wasn't doomed to fall apart, and that even Justinian's reconquest wasn't a totally doomed effort from the beginning.

the deposition of the last Roman emperor and the recovery of the Roman empire by the Eastern Rome under Justinian that takes back the Italian peninsula. And count me among the people who think that there may even be some kind of modest stabilization after 476 that the empire wasn't doomed to fall apart, and that even Justinian's reconquest wasn't a totally doomed effort from the beginning.

I think 476 is a handy date, it's a real enough moment And yet the real falls of the Roman Empire, I would date to the 3rd century crisis and then to the 6th century crisis.