Catastrofi naturali e pestilenze come segni divini nelle fonti storiche e letterarie bizantine (VI-IX sec.)

Plagues and natural disasters were considered in Byzantium a manifestation of divine wrath against men, guilty of having fallen into error and sin. The sources that report these events reveal different points of view, also in relation to the literary genre to which they belong. Cultured historiography gave account of scientific theories and philosophical speculations on the origin of earthquakes and plagues, but it avoided an etiological explanation, just exposing the facts. The chronicles and hagiographic texts, on the other hand, gave ample space to natural disasters and pestilences, a sign of divine punishment against humanity and, sometimes, against the emperor himself. This article starts from this assumption and it examines the historical and literary sources on some case studies, between the 6th and 9th centuries.