| Each day, the morning sunrise is taken for granted. | | | | towers of the city wall, filling up cisterns, digging up |
| Based on the laws of science, it is expected that the | | | | orchards. Soldiers were forced to dig mass |
| sun will rise each day from east to west. Yet, the | | | | graves… chaos and pandemonium [reigned]. |
| question must be asked, “what would happen if | | | | Constantinople stank for months after months [from |
| the sun didn’t rise?” This was the case | | | | the decaying bodies that were stuffed in towers and |
| from AD 535 through AD 546, with the darkest days | | | | stacked or dumped in streets]… [and] when the |
| in AD 536. | | | | number of dead reached a quarter of a million, |
| “A mighty roar of thunder” came out of | | | | Constantinople officials simply stopped counting.25 |
| the local mountain; there was a furious shaking of the | | | | An account by Procopius went as follows: “At |
| earth, total darkness, thunder and lightning.”1 A | | | | first, relatives and domestics attended to the burial of |
| Chinese court journal also made mention of “a | | | | the dead, but as the violence of the plague increased |
| huge thunderous sound coming from the south | | | | this duty was neglected, and corpses lay forlorn |
| west” in February 535.2 And as a Hopi elder had | | | | narrow in the streets, but even in the houses of |
| said, thousands of miles away, “When the | | | | notable men whose servants were sick or dead. |
| changes begin, there will be a big noise heard all over | | | | Aware of this, Justinian placed considerable sums at |
| the Earth,”3 a low rumble reverberated across | | | | the disposal of Theodore, one of his private |
| the planet. | | | | secretaries, to take measures for the disposal of the |
| “Then came forth a furious gale together with | | | | dead. Huge pits [that could hold up to 70,000 corpses] |
| torrential rain and a deadly storm darkened the entire | | | | were dug at Sycae, on the other side of the Golden |
| world,” read the Pustaka Raja Purwa or The | | | | Horn, in which the bodies were laid in rows and |
| Book of Ancient Kings, a buried Indonesian chronicle.4 | | | | tramped down tightly; but the men who were engaged |
| “The sun began to go dark, rain poured red, as if | | | | on this work, unable to keep up with the number of the |
| tinted by blood. Clouds of dust enveloped the | | | | dying, mounted the towers of the wall of the suburb, |
| earth… Yellow dust rained down like snow. It could | | | | tore off their roofs, and threw the bodies in. Virtually all |
| be scooped up in handfuls,”5 wrote The Nan Shi | | | | the towers were filled with corpses, and as a result |
| Ancient Chronicle of Southern China, referring to the | | | | ‘an evil stench pervaded the city and distressed |
| country’s weather in November and December | | | | the inhabitants still more, and especially whenever the |
| 535. | | | | wind blew fresh from that quarter.’”26 |
| Darkness followed making the day indistinguishable | | | | Out of fear, many people refused to venture out of |
| from the night. “There was a sign from the Sun, | | | | their homes -- “…houses became tombs, as |
| the likes of which had never been seen or reported | | | | whole families died from the plague without anyone |
| before. The Sun became dark, and its darkness lasted | | | | from the outside world even knowing. Streets were |
| for about 18 months. Each day, it shone for about four | | | | deserted…”27 Furthermore because of this |
| hours and still this light was only a feeble shadow. | | | | fear and/or the affects of suffering from high fever, |
| Everyone declared that the Sun would never recover | | | | scores of people hallucinated, seeing apparitions and |
| its full light again. The fruits did not ripen and the wine | | | | visions. And with the vast pestilence and destruction all |
| tasted like sour grapes,”6 John of Ephesus, a | | | | around them, many could not help but wonder if the |
| Syrian bishop and contemporary writer, wrote in | | | | apocalypse as described in Revelation 6:8 “And I |
| describing the unending darkness. “The sun | | | | looked, and behold, a pale horse; and his name that sat |
| became dim… for nearly the whole year… so | | | | on him was Death”28 was upon them. |
| that the fruits were killed at an unseasonable | | | | It was so bad that some thirty years later, Pope |
| time,” John Lydus added, which was further | | | | Gregory The Great wrote of Rome, “Ruins on |
| confirmed by Procopius, a prominent Roman historian | | | | ruins… Where is the senate? Where [are] the |
| who served as Emperor Justinian’s chief | | | | people? All the pomp of secular dignities has been |
| archivist and secretary, when he wrote of 536, | | | | destroyed… And we, the few that we are who |
| “…during this year a most dread portent | | | | remain, every day we are menaced by scourges and |
| took place. For the sun gave forth its light without | | | | innumerable trials.”29 In its height, the plague |
| brightness, like the Moon, during this whole year… | | | | "depopulated towns, turned the country into a desert |
| and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for | | | | and made the habitations of men to become the |
| the beams it shed were not clear.”7 “The | | | | haunts of wild beasts”30 while in Africa, major |
| sun… seems to have lost its wonted light, and | | | | ports ceased to exist and agricultural practices all but |
| appears of a bluish color. We marvel to see no | | | | vanished. |
| shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty | | | | “[And] as [others] left the stricken city [wearing |
| vigor of the sun’s heat wasted into | | | | identification tags so that their bodies would be buried if |
| feebleness,”8 Flavius Cassiodorus, another | | | | found] they took the plague to towns, villages and |
| Roman historian wrote. Reports even indicated that | | | | farms throughout the empire. [To compound matters, |
| midday consisted of “almost night-like | | | | with trade and commerce virtually nonexistent, food |
| darkness.”9 | | | | became scarce leading to the starvation of others].31 |
| A cold then gripped the world as temperatures | | | | Untold millions perished,"32 with an estimated death toll |
| declined. “We have had a winter without | | | | of 100 million, the worst pandemic in human history. |
| storms…”10 “a spring without mildness | | | | “Scandinavian elites” in feeble desperation, |
| [and] a summer without heat… The months which | | | | “sacrificed large amounts of gold… to |
| should have been maturing the crops have been chilled | | | | appease the angry gods and get the sunlight |
| by north winds,”11 wrote Cassiodorus. | | | | back.”33 In Mesoamerica and the Andes, cities |
| “When can we hope for mild weather, now that | | | | “of perhaps one million people” emptied out |
| the months that once ripened the crops have become | | | | “practically overnight” through starvation |
| deadly sick under the northern blasts? …Out of all | | | | and disease. Peoples turned on their gods and |
| the elements, we find these two against us: perpetual | | | | goddesses, violently smashing their images and burning |
| frost and unnatural drought,”12 he added,13 while | | | | temples and towards the end, they viciously fought |
| in China, it was written, “the stars were lost from | | | | each other having become “savage and |
| view for three months. The sun dimmed, the rain failed, | | | | warlike.”34 |
| and snow fell in the summertime. Famine spread, and | | | | When the sun finally came out, overcoming the affects |
| the emperor abandoned his capital…”14 | | | | of a massive volcanic eruption, even though it |
| Other Chinese records referred to a “‘dust | | | | hadn’t really been gone, minimizing the adverse |
| veil’ obscuring the sky” while | | | | affects and saving living creatures from complete |
| Mediterranean historians wrote about a | | | | extinction, the world was forever transformed. |
| “‘dry fog’ blocking out much of the | | | | Countries and civilizations had ceased to exist while |
| sun’s heat for more than year.”15 The sun | | | | others emerged as the days of darkness |
| was so ineffective that snow even fell during August | | | | “weakened the Eastern Roman Empire; created |
| in southern China and in every month of the year in | | | | horrendous living conditions in the western part of |
| northern Europe. | | | | Great Britain; contributed through drought… to the |
| “Then came drought [or floods], famine, plague, | | | | fall of the Teotihuacan civilization in Mexico; and |
| death…”16 “Food is the basis of the | | | | through flooding to the collapse of a major center of |
| Empire. Yellow gold and ten thousand strings of cash | | | | civilization in Yemen;”35 while major upheavals |
| cannot cure hunger. What avails a thousand boxes of | | | | occurred in China and France. More than half the |
| pearls to him who is starving of cold,” the | | | | world’s population when taking Europe, Asia, |
| Japanese Great King lamented in 540, while | | | | Africa, and the Americas, into account, along with |
| Cassiodorus added, “Rain is denied and the | | | | countless numbers of plants and animals, had perished |
| reaper fears new frosts.”17 And “as hard | | | | illustrating the fragile relationship that exists between |
| winters and drought continued into the second and | | | | people and nature. |
| third years [in Mongolia and parts of China, the Avars] | | | | ____________________________ |
| unable to find food, unable to barter food from | | | | 1 Krakatau. E.R.A. Inc., 2000. 2 March, 2006. |
| others…” began a 3,000-mile trek to new | | | | [ |
| lands to save themselves and their families from | | | | 2 Catastrophe! Part I. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| annihilation and starvation.18 | | | | 3 Precursors Of The Pole Shift And Earth Changes of |
| During this sustained period of unseasonably cold | | | | 2000-2001. E.R.A. Inc., 2000. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| temperatures from 535-546 when the sun was | | | | 4 Krakatau. E.R.A. Inc., 2000. 2 March, 2006. |
| ineffective and blotted out, plant life experienced | | | | [ |
| stunted growth – tree rings from this period show | | | | 5 Catastrophe! Part I. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| little or no growth – and many crops failed. | | | | 6 Henry N. Pollack. Uncertain Science… Uncertain |
| According to climatological research presented in 2001 | | | | World. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005) |
| by Markus Lindholm of the University of Helsinki, | | | | 197. |
| Finland, Abrupt changes in northern Fennoscandian | | | | 7 The Dark Ages Caused By Volcanism? September |
| summer temperatures extracted from the 7500-year | | | | 23, 2001. 27 April, 2006. and everything2: The disaster |
| ring-width chronology of Scots pine, the “most | | | | of 535. September 14, 2001. 27 April 2006. |
| dramatic shift in growing conditions, from favorable to | | | | 8 PBS Program – “Secrets Of The |
| unfavorable, between two years, took place between | | | | Dead.” May 15, 2005. 2 March 2006. |
| A.D. 535-536” in Europe and Africa.19 His findings | | | | 9 Climate changes of 535-536. Wikipedia. 2006. 27 |
| were corroborated by Mike Baillie of the University of | | | | April, 2006. |
| Belfast, who based on his tree ring chronologies, some | | | | 10 everything2: The disaster of 535. September 14, |
| from specimens preserved in bogs, that dated back | | | | 2001. 27 April 2006. |
| thousands of years stated, "It was a catastrophic | | | | 11 SEMP Biot #214: Did a Krakatoa Eruption in 535 A.D. |
| environmental downturn that shows up in trees all over | | | | Help Precipitate the Decline of Antiquity and the |
| the world.20 Temperatures dropped enough to hinder | | | | Spread of Islam? 27 April, 2006. |
| the growth of trees as widely dispersed as northern | | | | 12 everything2: The disaster of 535. September 14, |
| Europe, Siberia, western North America, and southern | | | | 2001. 27 April 2006. |
| South America.”21 Ominously, the cold brought | | | | 13 Catastrophe! Part I. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| rats, mice and fleas that normally lived outdoors, into | | | | 14 Mike Baillie. Did Asteroids And Comets Turn The |
| peoples’ homes in search of food and warmth | | | | Tides Of Civilization? Discovering Archeology July |
| because of the decimation that was occurring to the | | | | August 1999. 28 April, 2006. |
| animal population in the suddenly hostile, chilly dark | | | | 15 6th-century crop failures: comet collision? Cronaca. |
| environment. Deadly bacterium, Yersinia pestis was | | | | February 4, 2004. 28 April, 2006. |
| then transmitted to people and their pets. | | | | 16 Catastrophe! Part I. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| In the ensuing unending darkness, chaos reigned as | | | | 17 Catastrophe! Part I. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| “whole cities were wiped out – civilizations | | | | 18 Catastrophe! New Internationalist. December 1999. |
| crumbled.”22 Wars raged across Europe and | | | | 27 April, 2006. |
| the Middle East, prosperous societies were stripped of | | | | 19 Markus Lindholm. Abrupt changes in northern |
| sustenance and wealth, economies collapsed and huge | | | | Fennoscandian summer temperatures extracted from |
| swaths of populations succumbed to disease and | | | | the 7500-year ring-width chronology of Scots pine. |
| plague. “With some people it began in the head, | | | | August 27-31, 2001. 28 April, 2006. |
| made the eyes bloody and the face swollen, | | | | 20 Catastrophic event preceded Dark Ages – |
| descended to the throat and then removed them from | | | | scientist. Reuters. September 8, 2000. 28 April, 2006. |
| Mankind. With others, there was a flowing of the | | | | 21 Laura Knight-Jadczyk. Jupiter, Nostradamus, Edgar |
| bowels. Some came out in buboes [pus-filled swellings] | | | | Cayce, and the Return of the Mongols. March 9, 2004. |
| which gave rise to great fevers, and they would die | | | | 28 April, 2006. |
| two or three days later with their minds in the same | | | | 22 Catastrophe! Part I. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| state as those who had suffered nothing and with their | | | | 23 Catastrophe! New Internationalist. December 1999. |
| bodies still robust. Others lost their senses before dying. | | | | 27 April, 2006. |
| Malignant pustules erupted and did away with them. | | | | 24 Christine A. Smith. Plague in the Ancient World: A |
| Sometimes people were afflicted once or twice and | | | | Study from Thucydides to Justinian. 1997. 28 April, |
| then recovered, only to fall victim a third time and then | | | | 2006. |
| succumb,”23 Evagrius, a 6th century Church | | | | 25 Catastrophe! Part II. 27 April, 2006. [ |
| historian wrote. In their final stages, people | | | | 26 J.B. Bury. History of the Later Roman Empire. (New |
| “generally entered a semi-conscious, lethargic | | | | York: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1923). |
| state, and would not… eat or drink. Following this | | | | 27 Christine A. Smith. Plague in the Ancient World: A |
| stage, the victims would be seized by madness… | | | | Study from Thucydides to Justinian. 1997. 28 April, |
| Many people died painfully when their buboes | | | | 2006. |
| gangrened. A number of victims broke out with black | | | | 28 Miguel A. Faria, Jr., MD. Medical History – |
| blisters covering their bodies, and these individuals died | | | | Plagues & Epidemics. 2002. 28 April, 2006. |
| swiftly.”24 | | | | 29 Abominations of Desolation. 28 April, 2006. [ |
| Within seven years, due to the ivory trade, in which | | | | 30 Roy Porter. The Black Death. 28 April, 2006. |
| ships brought rats and sailors infected by the plague, | | | | 31 Christine A. Smith. Plague in the Ancient World: A |
| Europe and the Middle East were being ravaged. In | | | | Study from Thucydides to Justinian. 1997. 28 April, |
| Constantinople alone, “they had to dispose of | | | | 2006. |
| over 10,000 bodies a day, week after week, throwing | | | | 32 Catastrophe! Part II. 27 April, 2006. |
| them into the sea off special boats, sticking them in the | | | | |