justinian plague

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The Temple menorah depicted in a deeply carved relief panel from the Arch of Titus in Rome. Photo: Courtesy Steven Fine, The Arch of Titus Project

Sep 16 Blog

Where Did the Temple Menorah Go?

There is little doubt that the Temple Menorah was taken to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem. However, Rome was sacked, and the Temple Menorah was looted. After disaster befell the cities that housed it as a spoil of war, was it returned to Jerusalem?

The hippodrome of Jerash. Courtesy University of South Florida

Sep 15 Blog

Tracing the Justinian Plague

By: Nathan Steinmeyer

The Justinian Plague (c. 541–750 CE) was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. The Byzantine chronicler Procopius recorded that the plague claimed the […]

Aug 11 Blog

Medicine in the Ancient World

By: Sarah Yeomans

What exactly did ancient cultures do to combat disease and injury, and did these methods have any real basis in science as we know it today? The answers may surprise you.

Feb 29 Blog

The Cyprian Plague

By: Robin Ngo

Archaeologists working in Thebes discovered a burial for victims of the 3rd-century C.E. Cyprian Plague.

Jan 11 Blog

The Antonine Plague and the Spread of Christianity

By: Sarah K. Yeomans

Did the Antonine Plague influence shifts in religious practices at the end of the second century C.E., particularly the spread of the new religion of Christianity? Religious practices shifted because of the Antonine Plague. Architectural projects slowed, but the building of sacred sites intensified.

Aug 26 Blog

Pandemics in Perspective

By: Sarah Yeomans

Many adjectives can describe our current historical reality, which materialized when it became clear that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) would reach pandemic proportions: Surreal, […]

May 15 Blog

Pandemic, Plague, and Biblical History

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Where does pandemic disease, or plague, impact the history of early Christianity, and even before then, ancient Judaism? Biblical archaeologists have uncovered clues, but as […]

May 4 Blog

Justinian Plague Linked to the Black Death

By: Noah Wiener

Bacterial research has linked the Justinian Plague to the world’s most infamous affliction, the Black Death.

Mar 11 Blog

Doctors, Diseases and Deities: Epidemic Crises and Medicine in Ancient Rome

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

In this lecture presented at The Explorers Club in New York, Sarah Yeomans examines a recently excavated archaeological site that has substantially contributed to our understanding of what ancient Romans did to combat disease and injury.

Jun 23 Blog

Who Built the Cardo in Jerusalem?

By: Robin Ngo

The Cardo was Jerusalem's major north-south thoroughfare, as we know from the famous sixth-century Madaba map mosaic in Jordan. But was it fully built in the Roman period or only in the Byzantine period? The magnificent Nea Church that sat at its southern end may provide the answer.

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