Plague of Justinian

The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Byzantine Empire during and after the rule of Emperor Justinian I, who himself contracted the disease. The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic is the bubonic plague, which is infamous for its role in the so-called Black Death of the 14th century. It is estimated that the Plague of Justinian killed as many as 100 million people across the world, wiping out what percentage of Europe’s population at the time? Discuss