'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6 th – 8 th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries.

This video follows medieval queens and empresses who held power in violent worlds built mostly for men. Theodora influenced Justinian during the Nika riots of 532, while Suiko became Japan’s first ...

For more than 1,000 years, Constantinople was the beating heart of the Byzantine Empire. Its legacy of faith, culture and ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe by William Rosen 384pp, Cape, £20 Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was a fairly benign bacterium, causing mild flu-like symptoms, until it happened ...