Plague of Cyprian: Did you mean...?

The angel of death striking a door during the plague of Rome; engraving by Levasseur after Jules-Elie Delaunay (1828-1891 CE).

What is plague? How many people died from the Black Death and the other plague pandemics? Learn about the bacterium behind the plague disease, how factors like trade and urbanization caused it to spread to every continent except Antarctica...

Genomic analysis has shown that the plague of Justinian and the Black Death were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen. Dr. Hendrik Poinar discusses the findings.Video copyright: McMaster University

The Plague by Arnold Böcklin, 1827–1901 CE. (Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland)

A late 19th century CE painting by Tissot depicting Pharaoh as the victim of the tenth plague of Egypt where all first-born males are killed.

A 19th century CE painting by John Martin depicting the great storm which was the seventh plague of Egypt in the Moses story. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

The Hittite king Muršiliš II is imploring the gods to end the plague which has infested his country since the time of his father, Arnuwanda II. 13th century BCE (the tablet was originally written in the second half of the 14th century BCE...

Mesopotamian amulet covered with a quotation from a poem, the Akkadian Erra Epic, thought suitable to ward off plague. From Ashur, Northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Neo-Assyrian Period, 800-612 BCE. The British Museum, London.

Amicia de Rune keeping a sea of rats at bay with a burning stick in the video game A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Amicia de Rune standing in front of the ramparts of a Medieval city in the video game A Plague Tale: Innocence.