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By William Rosen, 367 pp, $27.95.
New York, NY, Viking Press–Penguin Group, 2007.
ISBN-13 978-0-6700-3855-8.

JAMA. 2007;298:1457-1458.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

While acknowledging the difficulty of his task, in this book William Rosen sets out to examine why, after its immense success, the Roman empire fragmented into so many pieces. He argues that the bubonic plague was one of the key factors in the dissolution of the empire, since the resultant loss of population also meant a loss of soldiers and farmers. So he explores the reign of Justinian, who ruled the empire when plague first broke out in 540 CE. This is an impressively wide-ranging book covering epidemiology, medical history, economics, agricultural history, evolution, and architecture.

Justinian's Flea is divided into 4 parts. Part 1, "Emperor," details the growth of the empire and Justinian's progress from a peasant village in Illyria to the head of the Roman Empire. Part 2, "Glory," concentrates on Justinian's triumphs as a builder, jurist, and conqueror. Chapter 4 concerns the building of the Hagia . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Helen Blackman, PhD, Reviewer
Cardiff School of History and Archaeology
Cardiff University
Cardiff, Wales
blackmanhj@cardiff.ac.uk

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