When we last
left Frankopan’s history of the Silk Roads at the time of the middle of the
seventh century, Christianity was on the eastward march. There was soon to be a new sheriff (or is
that Sharīf) in town.
But first, the bubonic plague. The year is 541:
It moved like lightning, so fast
that by the time panic set in, it was already too late. No one was spared. The scale of death was barely imaginable.
The Plague of Justinian (541–542)
was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, especially
its capital Constantinople, the Sassanid Empire, and port cities around the
entire Mediterranean Sea. One of the deadliest plagues in history, this
devastating pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (at the
time of the initial outbreak that was at least 13% of the world's population)
to 50 million people (in two centuries of recurrence).
The plague is believed to have begun in China; it was
brought west through trade – grain ships carrying rats, etc. (And Americans complain about the devastation
brought on by NAFTA!) In addition to
death, the plague brought chronic economic depression; returning to Frankopan:
…fields denuded of farmers, towns
stripped of consumers and a generation scythed down in their youth naturally
altered the demography of late antiquity, and caused a severe contraction of
the economy.
A Byzantine treasury already depleted before the plague
could not withstand the demands after the plague. Justinian was left with the option of buying
off his neighbors, as he did not have the means to fight them off. His successors decided on a different
approach. The new Emperor, Justin II, sent the Avars – who were looking for
their customary payment of tribute – away with a message:
“Never again shall you be loaded at
the expense of this empire, and go on your way without doing us any service;
for from me you shall receive nothing.”
A powerful alliance of Türk nomads felt Constantinople could
be a worthwhile partner in support of their ambition to destroy Persia. The Roman attack failed, and the Türks felt that
they chose an unreliable partner. This
episode, however, brought on a period of two decades of fighting between the
Romans and Persians.
The result would be devastating for both sides, especially
for the Persians; further, the fighting would make the soil fertile for a new
enemy, one to arise from the deserts of the south.
At one point, after the Persians successfully penetrated
deep into Asia Minor, the Romans successfully ambushed the Persian army. The queen was taken prisoner along with the
royal golden carriage; the Persian sacred fire – considered greater than any
other fire – was captured and thrown into a river; the Zoroastrian high priest
and a “multitude of the most senior people” were drowned.
These were seen, as you might imagine, as aggressive and
provocative acts, meant to belittle the Persians and their religion. At the same time, the Roman army embraced an
ever more religious tone.
The details of the battles, the ebbs and flows, the
intrigue, the diplomacy…too much for this post.
By 626, the Persian army was camped within site of the walls of
Constantinople. Heraclius, the Roman
Emperor of Armenian descent, felt this would be a fight to defend the Christian
faith.
Just as all seemed lost, the walls held and the assaults
were beaten away. The Avars – allied in
this battle alongside the Persians – gave up first; the Persians soon had to
follow, given reports of attacks in the Caucasus by the Türks.
Heraclius did not leave it at this; he organized a swift
counter-attack, making an alliance with the Türks. After crushing a large Persian army, the
Persian leadership cracked under the pressure.
Heraclius led a ceremonial entry into Jerusalem. Jews in the city were forcibly baptized;
Eastern Christians, whose doctrinal positions did not match those of the
Orthodox Church, were forced into conforming.
In the meantime, a new threat to both Romans and Persians
was rising up from the south…
It was in this region, as war raged
to the north, that a trader named Muḥammad, a member of the Banū Hāshim clan of
the Quraysh tribe, retreated to a cave not far from the city of Mecca to
contemplate.
Muḥammad was not alone in this region with a new preaching
about a single god; there were others who rose in this region during this time,
a region experiencing acute economic contraction as a result of the Perso-Roman
Wars. Yet, it is Muḥammad who advanced.
Those who followed his teachings were promised fruitful
land, economic rewards, paradise, and receipt of the lord’s forgiveness; those
who did not would see their crops fail, face doom, disaster and damnation.
Anyone who waged war on his
followers would suffer terribly and receive no mercy. They were to be executed or crucified, lose
limbs or be exiled: the enemies of Muḥammad were the enemies of God; truly they
would suffer an awful fate.