00:00 The episode discusses the Justinianic plague, a series of catastrophes including war, pestilence, and famine that marked the end of the ancient world and the beginning of the medieval world.

05:07 During Justinian's reign, there were significant shifts in politics, social structure, culture, religion, the economy, war, and climate and disease, with the idea of reconquest and the fall of the Roman Empire becoming popularized, but the changes in the natural world and their effects on the human world were even more significant, with war, pestilence, and famine all occurring simultaneously.

09:38 The late Roman world experienced significant shifts in climate, with the Roman climatic optimum being a warm, wet, and stable period that was ideal for agriculture, allowing for an agricultural explosion and the prosperity of the Roman Empire.

14:10 The period from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, known as the Pax Romana, was a time of significant population growth and economic prosperity in the Roman Empire, thanks in part to favorable climate conditions, but this period of stability and growth couldn't last forever and eventually gave way to a less favorable climate known as the late Roman transition.

19:06 The period of unfavorable climate in the Roman Empire coincided with the crisis of the third century, leading to civil war, barbarian invasions, economic collapse, and a devastating pandemic, causing the empire to splinter into three separate states, but eventually the empire recovered in the fourth century with the help of capable emperors and favorable climate conditions, until around 450 when the climate started to shift negatively again, leading to the onset of the late antique Little Ice Age and a series of natural disasters, including a year without a summer and a plague, which were further reinforced by Justinian's wars, resulting in a period of rapid and meaningful change.

23:42 In 536, a volcanic eruption caused a period of darkness and extreme cold, resulting in the coldest year in the last two millennia in the northern hemisphere, leading to failed wheat harvests and undrinkable wine.

28:00 In the aftermath of a failed harvest, Fecla, Petrus, and their village face a series of hardships including the arrival of the Roman army, a brutal winter, a siege by the Goths, and a scarcity of food that leads to the death of several villagers.

32:48 In the aftermath of the Gothic siege of Rome, Thecla and Petrus experience a period of relative stability and communal living, but their village is hit hard by the Justinianic plague, resulting in the death of half of the remaining villagers.

37:11 The Justinianic plague, which was just as devastating as the Black Death, resulted in the death of millions of people and caused a significant decline in population, leading to widespread suffering and hardship for those who survived.

41:50 The Justinianic plague, along with climate change and war, caused a significant decline in population and led to a simpler way of life with fewer people and less trade in the Roman world, marking a transition between antiquity and the Middle Ages.