plagues cause fear, suffering and anguish/ part 4

plagues cause fear, suffering and anguish/ part 4

emperor Justinian suffers from plague

fiction
edward w pritchard

Hagia Sophia the World's most fabulous Church was finished. Justinian's armies continued the reconquest of the Roman empire, city by city, village by village and person by person.

Justinian's  fear when the plague began in 547 was that his beloved wife Theodora would catch the affliction that would over the next fifty years kill up to 100 million people world wide. Theodora survived  Justinian's plague but died a few years later to Cancer, with Justinian crying at her bedside.

Justinian had contacted the plague but survived despite terrible suffering. His wealth and power didn't protect him. He survived a changed man. Fearful and paranoid he wandered nights through his palace alone following Theodora's death. Over the next 5475 nights Justinian roamed about his palace talking silently to himself.  His personal religious beliefs after Theodora's death and his bout with plague are unknown. Hagia Sophia still stands, one of histories greatest Churches.