541 AD: The Worst Year in History (opens in new tab)

Listen to 541 AD: The Worst Year in History from The Ancients. Was this the worst year in human history? Bubonic plague sweeps across the Mediterranean. The sun vanishes behind volcanic ash. Crops fail, famine bites, and the Roman empire lurches towards collapse.In this episode of The Ancients, the third in our special Great Disasters series, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Kyle Harper to uncover the perfect storm of catastrophe that struck the Roman world in the mid-6th century. From volcanic...