 It had come from a faraway land, a horse, a pale horse. It brought with it news, news delivered by the cloaked rider who sat upon it, news of a trouble in the Empire's capital. The city had been struck by a pestilence, a scourge, along with the scourge came horror. Yet even as the rider was delivering the news, no one had realized that closely behind the horse followed the rats. Hi there viewer, if you enjoy my content, please consider liking the video and subscribing to help the channel grow. Enjoy! War They were asking for war. The Persian Shah sat still in his court listening as the foreign dignitaries who surrounded him pled their cases. But was Castro really ready for war? War against Justinian? The dignitaries before him were persistent. The Goths in the West had lost almost all their territory to Justinian. They were hoping Castro's entry into the war would provide them a much-needed respite. Representatives from Armenia and Lazica had also been present. A number of states near to the Byzantines and Persians had found themselves the subject of disputes between the two powers. Arabia and the Caucasus had been the chess boards on which the two giants would contest each other either directly or indirectly and this time was no different. The kings of Armenia and Lazica both wanted to throw off the Byzantine yoke and they petitioned Castro to enter the war on their behalf. The Shah contemplated until he had reached a decision. He was ready to throw aside his insecurities. Castro was going to war. At the beginning of Castro's special military operation, the Persians for a short time had more or less free reign to do as they wanted due to Justinian's forces being in Italy. Castro led his troops into Syria where he spent his time besieging cities in demanding outrageous sums of gold in tribute. If they refused to pay, Castro reduced the city to rubble after taking all of their valuables anyway. One such city that was destroyed was of immense historic and religious significance to the Byzantines. Antioch. After its destruction, no other city in the area would refuse Castro his tribute. Justinian was hesitant to engage Castro and still wanted to focus on Italy so he offered an exorbitant amount of gold to the Shah in the hopes of buying a truce. Castro accepted, but not before he decided to showcase his enormous ego. He mockingly went on a swim in the Mediterranean Sea, rigged the local chariot races against Justinian's favorite team and deported the remaining population of Antioch to a new town nearby which he spitefully named Castro's Better Antioch. Finally, Castro more or less ignored the truce and continued to demand tribute from the towns he passed on his way out of Syria. Justinian gave up on the idea of a truce and the emperor instead sent his army to deal with the invader. Castro had been moving his army northwards when Belisarius and his troops arrived in Syria. This was it. The two giants were about to come head to head. Who would win? Who would be the better general? It was about to be the clash of the Titans. But before that could happen, it became apparent that trouble was brewing elsewhere and our hero's war ambitions were about to be put on hold. In fact, a whole world's worth of plans and ambitions were about to be interrupted. Justinian and Castro were about to be confronted by a new enemy, an enemy that neither man possessed the tools to fight and one that would forever change the outlook of history. Pelusium The city's position on the furthest east banks of the Nile Delta made it the gateway of Egypt and often the first stop of an army on its way to conquer the land. Consequently, Pelusium would also serve as the first major stopping point of our affliction. As the wars were raging in the east and the west, disturbing reports had been coming from Pelusium. Tales of the townsfolk falling ill have begun to make their way across the land with merchant caravans and travelers. The visitors had brought with them mysterious stories of people they had witnessed falling ill and then not three days later they had been cold and dead. Some of the stories told were of the sickness's features and the progression of the illness. Others came insisting on repentance and telling stories of the impending arrival of the wrath of God. Others yet came telling stories of ghastly cloaked figures they had witnessed beckoning to them from the mist. Yet as these merchants and travelers brought their stories to new lands, as they traveled east into places like Gaza, Ashkelon, and Beersheva, and as they traveled west to Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, they unknowingly brought with them the true source of all the suffering and death that had occurred in Pelusium. And as the pestilence arrived in these locations, its new victims would unknowingly bring it with them as they ventured out into the world as well. From Alexandria, one of the empire's largest and most prominent cities, a city that had been founded by Alexander the Great and once boasted the greatest collection of books and knowledge in the entire world. From this city, a ship would depart set for Constantinople. And on this ship, along with its crew and its cargo, was a terror. The fever has already begun pillaging the crew. However, there will be no time for rest for them. The crew must continue moving forward. They must not let one loss prevent their voyage from continuing its course. He's unnerved. The captain leans against the ship's stern as he stares out at the sea, his mind racing and unsettled. The ocean shimmers with the setting sun colliding with the surface of the water's ceaseless curls. There seem to be an unease even with the sea this past week. It's mood darkened as if it too is falling ill to the infestation that has been clinging to everyone. Slowly, men have succumbed to this odd strain of sickness and there seem to be nothing that could stop it once catching it. The first death was just the beginning of their race against the pestilence to reach the shore before it ensnares them all. Sir, his thoughts interrupted by the mate. The number of sick have overtaken the healthy for the night shift. Should we move men from the day shift to account for the ill? Maybe. His word trailed off at the end. He lets his thoughts wander for some kind of solution to this mysterious inconvenience. That's a good idea. Move the newly sick in with the rest and I'll talk to the remaining crew about taking on more work. Get them moved now. The mate follows his orders and flees for the lower deck. A moment later. Sir, I think you need to come down here. The urgency has the captain's body launching into action before his brain can catch up with what he's now seeing. A body, unmoving, sweat coated and swollen. His friend and crew members still chest and bloodied mouth draw his attention immediately before the blackened limbs drag his gaze away from the mate's face. What do we do, sir? Get him overboard before the others see but be discreet. We do not want an onslaught of panic amongst the crew. Let the sick sleep but wake the rest. We need to hasten our trek before it's too late. The ship would continue along to its destination of Constantinople along with hundreds of other ships each carrying passengers with similar stories. Many crews would arrive at their destinations with several crew members already sick, the rest to follow soon after. Other crews would be wiped out entirely before they even got close. There are vessels becoming ghost ships to be pushed and pulled about by the ocean. Constantinople was a major population center and commercial hub bridging the continents of Asia and Europe in the perfect position to facilitate trade between them. The Byzantine government would ship in grain from the empire's grain-rich provinces such as Egypt and then distribute the grain to the city's poorest. This was a welfare program known as the graindole that had been used in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the program had continued and would bring in hundreds of grain shipments to the city every year, fostering a huge population of over 500,000 people, most living in incredibly cramped spaces. The scale of commerce in and out of the city created the perfect conditions for the inferno of disease. The plague struck the city rapidly after the first plague ships arrived. Within days, friends and family members had noticed their loved ones begin to complain of a feeling of discomfort and general exhaustion. Hours later, the sick would develop a splitting headache and would experience an intense feeling of heat and fever. The next day, family would have woken to find their loved ones writhing in excruciating pain. They would then find large protruding lumps around the groin, armpits, and neck called buboes, which would sometimes burst in an explosion of infectious pus. Family may have then decided to bring their sick to a local church or hospital to seek out medical attention, but as the disease progressed over the coming days, they would have had a difficult time speaking to their loved ones as they slipped in and out of delirium due to the worsening pain and fever. As they drew closer to the end, it would watch as their loved ones appeared to be rotting away in front of their very eyes. Their fingers, toes, lips, and the swollen buboes would begin to turn black and necrotic. The sick would either become comatose or begin to convulse violently before they began vomiting blood and stopped moving and breathing entirely. Depending on the type of plague in its victim, family members may have found themselves saying goodbye within just a few days of their loved one becoming ill. The plague would spread out into the city, first arriving at the base of each of the hills the city was built on, and then spread to the hills peak. For those living on top of the hills, they would have no doubt been well aware of what was inevitably coming, hopeless to do anything about it. As the disease continued to spread out among the city's inhabitants, the medical, religious, governmental, and end of life infrastructure quickly became overwhelmed by the immense number of sick and dead that seemed to be doubling on a daily basis. On next week's episode, join us as we explore how things unfold in Constantinople over the coming months. Was it really as bad as they say? How did the people of the city react? What was it like to live through something as horrific as this? Find out next week on Contagions. Be sure to subscribe to stay tuned and like the video to help the channel grow. Over on Patreon, your host, Sean Sharp, will be regularly posting content that delves deeper into some of the subjects we don't have time for on the YouTube channel. Right now, there's a free episode available for a limited time only. Go check it out and become a patron for more just like that. That's it for us today. We'll catch you next time, viewer.