In this webinar Dr. Liston will present us with evidence for the late Roman/early Byzantine leprosy epidemic that affected Thebes, and probably a much wider area of Greece. During the talk we will look at individuals who were buried in two mass graves, suggesting that they died in a catastrophic event, such as an epidemic disease.
The Justinianic plague, known to be the first wave of bubonic plague to sweep through Europe, was ravaging the Mediterranean world during the centuries this cemetery was in use.
We anticipate that DNA analysis, that will be perfomed on our samples in the near future, will identify the disease that killed the individuals in these mass graves, but we know already that many of them also were suffering from leprosy when they died.
