研究表明，古代鼠疫的爆发被夸大了

研究表明，古代鼠疫的爆发被夸大了

An ancient outbreak of bubonic plague that’s been said to have upended the world order was actually pretty tame, researchers say.

研究人员称，一场据说已经颠覆了世界秩序的古老的黑死病的爆发实际上是相当温和的。

Although some scholars have said the Justinianic plague helped trigger major global events such as Islam’s rise and the emergence of modern Europe, a group of scientists believe the outbreak didn’t cause enough deaths to have done so.

虽然一些学者说，查士丁尼大瘟疫引发了伊斯兰教的兴起和现代欧洲的出现等重大全球事件，但一组科学家认为，这场瘟疫没有造成足够多的死亡。

According to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by environmental historian Lee Mordechai and his colleagues, several new types of archaeological evidence do not support the notion that the Justinianic plague was a world-altering event.

根据环境历史学家Lee Mordechai和他的同事发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上的研究，一些新的考古证据并不支持查士丁尼大瘟疫是一个改变世界的事件的观点。

“Support for the claim that the Justinianic plague was a watershed event in the ancient world is just not there,” the study’s coauthor Merle Eisenberg, an environmental historian at the University of Maryland’s National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in Annapolis, said in a statement to Science News.

这项研究的共同作者、马里兰大学安纳波利斯国家社会环境综合中心的环境历史学家梅尔·艾森伯格在一份给《科学新闻》的声明中说:“没有证据表明查丁尼大瘟疫是古代世界的分水岭。”

The Justinianic outbreak was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which scholars believe originated in Central Asia and primarily afflicted the Eastern Roman Empire. It took place from around 541 to 544, with some reoccurrences until around 750.

查士丁尼的爆发是由耶尔森氏菌引起的，学者们认为耶尔森氏菌起源于中亚，主要侵袭东罗马帝国。从大约541年到544年，有一些重复发生，直到大约750年。

However, early historical texts and stone inscriptions from Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean contain few plague references, according to the scientists’ investigation.

然而，根据科学家的调查，早期的历史文献和来自欧洲和东地中海的石刻铭文很少涉及鼠疫。

In addition, Science News reported that archaeological finds from two Mediterranean sites indicate that coin circulation remained stable in the 540s, while written sources show that Roman legislation did not decline after the 541 outbreak.

此外，《科学新闻》报道说，从两个地中海遗址的考古发现表明，硬币流通在540年代保持稳定，而书面资料显示，罗马的立法在541年爆发后并没有下降。