andrew of caesarea and the apocalypse in the ancient church of the ...

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The plague caused tremendous loss of revenue, diminished the strength of the empire
by the loss of money and manpower, and created enormous disruption in trade and
agriculture leading to many outbreaks of famine. Famine also resulted from a severe
winter 64 and from the civil war which raged in the empire for several years, from 602 to
610. 65 Famine grew even worse from the disruption of ordinary planting and harvesting and
the interférence with trade due to the Persian invasions. The masses of people who crowded
into walled cities to escape invaders and the number of troops confined inside the cities with
them compounded the effect, putting the food supply under even greater strain. 66
In 602, the Emperor Maurice was murdered by a usurper, Phocas, an army officer
who took the throne. The event was a great shock since it was the fïrst time that the throne of
the Roman Emperor had been forcibly seized since the founding of Constantinople. 67 Phocas'
ascent inaugurated a period of horrifie anarchy and upheaval, not only in the capital but in
cities throughout the empire. 69 Phocas was eventually opposed by Heraclius who mustered
62 Treadgold, 278.
63 Treadgold, 276.
64 A severe winter in 601-2 and bad weather impeded the grain shipments (Stratos, 41) and led to riots in
Constantinople (Treadgold, 235) and in 609 the sea even froze at Constantinople. Theophanis Chronographia,
Cari de Boor, éd. 2 vols., (Leipzig: Teubner, 1883, 1885), 1:297. Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, trans.
Cyril Mango and Roger Scott (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 426. See also Treadgold, 240. Many people
and animais died of hunger in 608 and 609. Stratos, 78.
65 Heraclius, who was in Egypt when Phocas seized the throne, prevented grain shipments from Egypt and
Carthage to the capital as part of his strategy to remove Phocas from power. Almost ail of Constantinople's
grain supply came from Africa. Treadgold, 239. The remainder came from Asia Minor which had been
severely impacted by the Persian invasions.
66 Foss, 746.
67 Treadgold, 235.
68 "The capital was a perpétuai scène of torturing and exécutions. Phocas had killed ail [former Emperor]
Maurice's relations, many leaders and senators. Many more had been exiled. Michael the Syrian says succinctly
that while the Persians were capturing territory, Phocas was killing everybody so that nobody was left to fight
them." Stratos, 79, citing Michael the Syrian 2.378.
69 This situation in Thessalonica has been vividly described: "...the demes, not satisfied with shedding the
blood of their fellow demesmen in the streets, hâve forced their way into each others' houses and mercilessly
murdered those within, throwing down alive from the upper stories women and children, young and old, who
were too weak to save themselves by flight; in barbarian fashion they hâve plundered their fellow-citizens, their
acquaintances and relations, and hâve set fire to their houses..." Ostrogorsky 77, fn 3, citing Miracula S.
Demetrii, Acta Sanctorum IV, 132 (Antwerp, 1643). Migne PG, 116, 1261F. Long before the seventh century,
the deme factions had spread throughout the empire along with their enmity and rivalry.