History

Justinians Flea by William Rosen provides a detained account of the Roman Empire, the birth of Europe and the plague. It is a story that borrows widely from the biblical narrative of David and Goliath to succinctly illuminate Rosens case of a departure from a traditional human centered version of history. In this case, Goliath can be said to be the Roman Empire that ruled in the sixth century by Emperor Justinian in the magnificent capital of Constantinople. On the other hand, the microscopic bug that caused a bubonic plague portends the elements of David which attacked its human victim.

Rosen puts it that although it seems to be the worlds smallest organism, what it caused exalts it to be words mightiest empire (Rosen, 2007 53-59). This is not that a story that Rosen gave for the sake of aesthetics. It figures out the body blow that the Roman Emperor power faced, which saw an opening not just for the rise of Islam from the east but also the formation of Europeans nation states. Essentially, Rosen assert that the origin of modern geopolitics can be traced to the deadly flea bites that raged havoc in the sixth century.

The only secret to Rosens approach in convincing the world through the book Justinians Flea is the ability to balance the historical events through the biological spectrum. The ways in which the Justinians ambitions to restore The Roman Empire are clearly acclaimed hence drawing attention to the human centered version of history. The question of political conquest is treated in the mixture of biological plague. Accordingly, the resulting calamity signifies great demographic consequences and thus Rosen convincingly makes his book to become a speculative piece about the Byzantine seedlings of Europes future nation. By incorporating scientific understanding, Rosen models his argument to underscore that before the plague, Roman laws had already been codified. As a result, Rosen steps into antiquity by weaving his interpretation about human centered version of history into a fluid narrative of the periods geostrategic possibilities before the final inception of the Dark Ages.

There is a concise breakthrough in what befell the world in the history of the formation of Europe. At this point in history, many factors such as the barbarian invasion, the collapse of city life, the rise of Islam, and the emergence of papacy as a political force came into play. Rosen thus illuminates an important happening that led to the turn of events in the world scene. Accordingly, one of the earths oldest inhabitants was ready for a new mutation, a phenomenon that had the unfortunate for our ancestors in the sixth century. The genesis of the Bubonic plague seemingly is the mutation and as Rosen underscores, the dreadful human tragedy is just the beginning of a tenser historical story. The plague however, changed the whole of Europe completely (Rosen, 2007 77-81).

Logically, Rosen argues his point articulately and his claims portend extensive element of history told in a biological as well as human perspective. For instance, the plague that befell Europe weakened the Roman Empire at a time when it had already overstretched Europe thus failing the Roman regime for the armies of Islam. Moreover, the prevailing situation at the time paradoxically ensured the survival and success of the Franks as well as other Germanic tribes therefore exclusively creating a great cultural interval referred to us Middle Ages. Considerably, the Justinians Flea embodies an account of the reign of Justinian who is arguably the last roman emperor. Rosen offers an engrossing presentation of architecture, civil law, evolutionary biology and theology to remind us our true place in the world. He makes his point that human nature is destructive.

It is important to note that Rosen is concerned with the issue of the plague. Apparently, his emphasis on the historical transformation of the world is in terms of politics and thus he brings into sharp focus what might be considered as not important. Through his elaborate book, it is fairly known that the Justinians great legal code impacted extensively on the jurisprudence of the Europeans. He significantly highlights that the consequences that the Justinian codifiers failed to formalize the existing laws they paved way for the creation of the civil law (Rosen, 2007167-172). The institution that drafts the laws always prevails in the event of a dispute at any statute.

It is ironical that as the plague left Roman Empire crippled permanently, the population of the Northern Europe flourished. Arguably, it is because of the alteration of the axis of power in Christendom. By elaborating on the effects of the plague on human history, Rosen convinces his readership that eastern Roman Empire was ruralised thereby constructing certain degrees to which cities contracted. As a result, the term city became a reservation for the capital. This was the aftermath o the plague that prepared the birth of Western Europe.    

By and large, Rosen facilitates a profound understanding of the reign of the Justinian by also conveying the significance and excitement of Justinians achievement from the codification of Roman law to the building of Hagias Sophia. It is plausible to argue that Rosen successfully outlines the accounts of how the plague was developed through an organism, how the bacterium was mutated and eventually transmitted into humans and the present possibility of tracking its progress on the ground.
If there is any period in the history of modern Rome that is likely to capture the imagination of the Justinian reign, it is the historical era of the flea which Rosen eventually dubbed his book. Ideally, the Roman Empire in this period was characterized to political intrigues in the palace, the extravagant building schemes, murderous warfare and a literary tradition. For much of the Justinians reign contemporary historians have recounted the exploits of these larger than life incidences. Rosen describes this sixth century plague more like he is giving an eyewitness observation. The secret historic revelation that has given Justinian reign much of its color.

However, the only problem that Rosen has with this approach to account for historical events is deciding his book Justinians Flea into historical and biological halves. Although he fits the two accounts together, it would be hard for readers to understand whether the impact of the plague on the history of the world is as significant as it ought to be. Without clear analytic reading, it may not be clear whether the plague led to the birth of modern European as Justinian emperor stumbled. In addition, Rosen fails to account for certain logical truths. For instance, one wonders why if the death toll as a result of the plague was as large as he suggests, it is imperative that the plague must have made big waves in the political waters of the Mediterranean world. What Rosen leaves the readers with is that natural catastrophe is too efficient to be used as a historical explanation on this scale.
To recap, Rosen convincible tells his story by weaving together economics, microbiology, and military strategy as well as ancient and modern medicine. His account thus bases on the historys first pandemic plague that devastated the Roman Empire and opened way fro the armies of Islam.

Although Empire Justinian had reunified Romes fractured empire by defeating the Goths what had separated Italy Spain and North Africa from imperial rule, the ensuing outbreak of the bubonic plague killed a large number of people thus bringing about a turning point in the history of the world.