During the expansion of the Florentine territory Uffizi Galleries (Galleria degli Uffizi) builders discovered hundreds of skeletons under the building, which, according to preliminary findings of archaeologists, can be dated to the 5-6th century AD, when a plague hit the city.
Sixty unknown skeletons discovered under the temple of such world-famous masterpieces of art as The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli and Tondo Doni by Michelangelo were buried in a hurry , say scientists, the cause of which at that time could only be a deadly epidemic.
Florentines are more than surprised by an unusual historical find. No one expected that under the famous building in the whole of Italy and the world in the center of Florence there will be small "Pompeii" - evidence of a terrible catastrophe on an urban scale.
A burial place dating back to the end of the Roman Empire was discovered while working in the lower reading room of the Magliabechiana library, which is located in close proximity to Piazza del Grano.
For five months, experienced archaeologists carefully removed the bodies of former residents of the city, noting the minimum distance between them. According to experts, this sign indicates a common urban grave. However, scientists have not been able to establish signs that would allow to accurately determine the cause of death. An examination of the skeletons did not reveal any signs of struggle or exhaustion.
Archaeologist Andrea Pessina told reporters that only DNA analysis will determine exactly what caused the death of this large group of citizens. Pessina herself still insists that the Justinian plague is to blame for everything - an infectious epidemic that committed atrocities in the eastern part of the Roman Empire in the 6th century A.D.
It is this plague, which, according to historians, has claimed about 100 million lives from all over the world, is called one of the worst in human history.
At the peak of the epidemic in ancient Constantinople, five to ten thousand people died every day. Only at the initial stage, the Justinian plague "mowed" about 40 percent of the inhabitants of the great city, and later became the source of a quarter of all the diseases that appeared after it in the Mediterranean region.
According to Western historians, the epidemic "swept" in almost all parts of the world. Her outbreaks were recorded in central and southern Asia, North Africa, as well as in Europe, from modern Denmark to Ireland. Genetic studies suggest that the Justinian plague was introduced into the countries of the Mediterranean basin from China.
In general, outbreaks of terrible disease had a strong impact on the entire course of European history. Modern historians have led an epidemic in honor of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, who was in power when a deadly plague swept over his possessions. And to this day, data and documents have been preserved indicating that Justinian himself was also defeated by the epidemic, but in the end the great ruler of the Roman Empire was able to defeat her.
After the plague receded at the end of the 6th century, up to the 14th century there were no new outbreaks.
But already in the Middle Ages Europe was covered by the Black Death, which tightly seized on the region and did not recede until the 18th century. A new epidemic claimed about a third of the entire population of Europe, China and India. In Syria and Africa, about half a million people died from the Black Death. Today, the Black Death is considered the second most dangerous epidemic after the "Spaniard", who seized Europe in 1918-1919.
