★ Epidemic coin ★

Justinian I (527-565) AE follis, issued 541/2 (year 15). Constantinople, 23.30g, 39mm.
Obv: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVI; Diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, holding globus cruciger and shield; in field to right, cross.
Rev. Large M; above, cross; below, B; A/N/N/O - X/Ч across fields; in ex., CON.
SB 163.
From the Severus Alexander collection, acquired from CNG (web store) in May 1999.

This coin was issued just as the first recorded epidemic of bubonic plague was beginning. This epidemic was of comparable devastation to the Black Death in the 14th century: up to one quarter of the human population around the eastern Mediterranean died, and possibly as many as 25 million worldwide. Justinian himself contracted the disease, but recovered. The empire, however, could not; in part because of the reduced population, Justinian’s gains over the previous years, especially in Italy, were gradually whittled away, as the Goths took advantage of Belisarius’s recall. (Another historical tidbit: In 541 the last Roman consul held office.)