In the year 536 the sun dimmed and the world shivered, leading to famine, plague and the fall of empires. New clues point to an double-whammy apocalypse
"The sun began to be darkened by day and the moon by night, while the ocean was tumultuous with spray from the 24th of March in this year till the 24th of June in the following year... And, as the winter was a severe one, so much so that from the large and unwonted quantity of snow the birds perished... there was distress... among men... from the evil things"
Zacharias of Mytilene (Chronicle, 9.19, 10.1)
THE year is AD 536, and Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea has just arrived in southern Italy. The balance of power in the Mediterranean is in flux: Vandals had sacked Rome in 455 and the Western Roman Empire ...
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