研究表明，古代鼠疫的爆發(fā)被夸大了

研究表明，古代鼠疫的爆發(fā)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.

研究人員稱，一場據(jù)說已經(jīng)顛覆了世界秩序的古老的黑死病的爆發(fā)實際上是相當溫和的。

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.

雖然一些學者說，查士丁尼大瘟疫引發(fā)了伊斯蘭教的興起和現(xiàn)代歐洲的出現(xiàn)等重大全球事件，但一組科學家認為，這場瘟疫沒有造成足夠多的死亡。

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.

根據(jù)環(huán)境歷史學家Lee Mordechai和他的同事發(fā)表在《美國國家科學院院刊》上的研究，一些新的考古證據(jù)并不支持查士丁尼大瘟疫是一個改變世界的事件的觀點。

“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.

這項研究的共同作者、馬里蘭大學安納波利斯國家社會環(huán)境綜合中心的環(huán)境歷史學家梅爾·艾森伯格在一份給《科學新聞》的聲明中說:“沒有證據(jù)表明查丁尼大瘟疫是古代世界的分水嶺。”

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.

查士丁尼的爆發(fā)是由耶爾森氏菌引起的，學者們認為耶爾森氏菌起源于中亞，主要侵襲東羅馬帝國。從大約541年到544年，有一些重復發(fā)生，直到大約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，根據(jù)科學家的調查，早期的歷史文獻和來自歐洲和東地中海的石刻銘文很少涉及鼠疫。

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，《科學新聞》報道說，從兩個地中海遺址的考古發(fā)現(xiàn)表明，硬幣流通在540年代保持穩(wěn)定，而書面資料顯示，羅馬的立法在541年爆發(fā)后并沒有下降。