Merle Eisenberg
Biographic Data
| ID | 3978193 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Merle Eisenberg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Merle |
| FAMILY NAME | Eisenberg |
| SIGNATURE | EISENBERG M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Oklahoma State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1556-5752 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic
Archaeological evidence from funerary contexts is largely ignored in current scholarship on the First Plague Pandemic, despite the important information that burials and cemeteries can provide about how plague might have affected societies. Skeletal (mainly dental) remains are used in the paleogenomic search for victims of plague (Yersinia pestis), but significant contextual information is to be gained from plague-positive graves through bioarcha…
How Mediterranean Economies Were Shaped in the Early Middle Ages
Past Answers to Present Concerns. The Relevance of the Premodern Past for 21st Century Policy Planners
How is history relevant to the present, or indeed the future? Governments around the world have used history to inform planning and decision‐making in various fields for years, but more recently it has taken on a renewed importance as governments grapple with increasingly complex challenges arising from the impacts of climatic change. Yet identifying “lessons from the past” is not straightforward. Especially in the case of big questions about his…
Antonio Carbone. Epidemic Cities
Approaching the Early Medieval Iberian Economy from the Ground Up
1. Early medieval Iberia has primarily been debated (but not investigated systematically) with one economic question in mind: how did the state and its rulers collect enough revenues to sustain the
The Business of Bishops
Visigothic Iberia experienced significant economic transformations from the sixth through the early eighth centuries, during which churches played an increasing ideological and material role. This article investigates the role of churches as key landholders in Visigothic Iberia, with a focus on how their growing wealth was managed. It explores three aspects of the intertwined relationship between churches, the state and the economy. First, it rev…
The philosophy of Constantine the Philosopher of Nicaea
The two extant works of Constantine the Philosopher of Nicaea reveal a late twelfth century thinker of the Neoplatonic sensibility typically seen only in those who reached the pinnacle of Byzantine literacy during this period. We argue that he is of particular interest because he coined two philosophical terms that, while mirroring controversial Neoplatonic concepts, better accommodate their Orthodox acceptance.We offer here some background on th…
Seeing the churches like the state
Two key economic questions tend to be asked about the transformation of the Roman world. First, how did Roman fiscal structures continue, disintegrate and transform? Second, how did emerging churches play a role in the redistribution of wealth through new administrative structures to create a new social system, what Ian Wood has called a ‘temple society’? These two processes – one focussing on the continuity or discontinuity of the Roman economic…
The Justinianic Plague and Global Pandemics
This article explores how plague-as an idea-became an ahistorical independent agent of historical change. It focuses on the case of the Justinianic Plague (ca. 541-750 c.e.), the first major recorded plague pandemic in Mediterranean history, which has increasingly been used to explain significant demographic, political, social, economic, and cultural change during late antiquity (ca. 300-800 c.e.). We argue that the Justinianic Plague retains its…
The Justinianic Plague
This article is a detailed critical review of all the major scholarly publications in the rapidly expanding field of the Justinianic Plague published from 2000 through 2018. It updates the article in this journal by Dionysios Stathakopoulos from 2000, while also providing a detailed appraisal of the state of the field across all disciplines, including: literary studies, archaeology, DNA evidence, climatology, and epidemiology. We also identify th…
Rejecting Catastrophe
Recent research has increasingly argued that the Justinianic Plague was an unparallelled demographic catastrophe which killed half the population of the Mediterranean world and led to the end of Antiquity. This article re-examines the evidence and reconsiders whether this interpretation is justified. It builds upon an array of interdisciplinary research that includes literary and non-literary primary sources, archaeological excavations, DNA resea…
The Environmental History of the Late Antique West
Rejecting Catastrophe
Recent research has increasingly argued that the Justinianic Plague was an unparallelled demographic catastrophe which killed half the population of the Mediterranean world and led to the end of Antiquity. This article re-examines the evidence and reconsiders whether this interpretation is justified. It builds upon an array of interdisciplinary research that includes literary and non-literary primary sources, archaeological excavations, DNA resea…
The Justinianic Plague
This article is a detailed critical review of all the major scholarly publications in the rapidly expanding field of the Justinianic Plague published from 2000 through 2018. It updates the article in this journal by Dionysios Stathakopoulos from 2000, while also providing a detailed appraisal of the state of the field across all disciplines, including: literary studies, archaeology, DNA evidence, climatology, and epidemiology. We also identify th…
Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic
Archaeological evidence from funerary contexts is largely ignored in current scholarship on the First Plague Pandemic, despite the important information that burials and cemeteries can provide about how plague might have affected societies. Skeletal (mainly dental) remains are used in the paleogenomic search for victims of plague (Yersinia pestis), but significant contextual information is to be gained from plague-positive graves through bioarcha…
Past Answers to Present Concerns. The Relevance of the Premodern Past for 21st Century Policy Planners
How is history relevant to the present, or indeed the future? Governments around the world have used history to inform planning and decision‐making in various fields for years, but more recently it has taken on a renewed importance as governments grapple with increasingly complex challenges arising from the impacts of climatic change. Yet identifying “lessons from the past” is not straightforward. Especially in the case of big questions about his…
The Environmental History of the Late Antique West
The Justinianic Plague
This article is a detailed critical review of all the major scholarly publications in the rapidly expanding field of the Justinianic Plague published from 2000 through 2018. It updates the article in this journal by Dionysios Stathakopoulos from 2000, while also providing a detailed appraisal of the state of the field across all disciplines, including: literary studies, archaeology, DNA evidence, climatology, and epidemiology. We also identify th…
Rejecting Catastrophe
Recent research has increasingly argued that the Justinianic Plague was an unparallelled demographic catastrophe which killed half the population of the Mediterranean world and led to the end of Antiquity. This article re-examines the evidence and reconsiders whether this interpretation is justified. It builds upon an array of interdisciplinary research that includes literary and non-literary primary sources, archaeological excavations, DNA resea…
The Justinianic Plague and Global Pandemics
This article explores how plague-as an idea-became an ahistorical independent agent of historical change. It focuses on the case of the Justinianic Plague (ca. 541-750 c.e.), the first major recorded plague pandemic in Mediterranean history, which has increasingly been used to explain significant demographic, political, social, economic, and cultural change during late antiquity (ca. 300-800 c.e.). We argue that the Justinianic Plague retains its…
The philosophy of Constantine the Philosopher of Nicaea
The two extant works of Constantine the Philosopher of Nicaea reveal a late twelfth century thinker of the Neoplatonic sensibility typically seen only in those who reached the pinnacle of Byzantine literacy during this period. We argue that he is of particular interest because he coined two philosophical terms that, while mirroring controversial Neoplatonic concepts, better accommodate their Orthodox acceptance.We offer here some background on th…
Seeing the churches like the state
Two key economic questions tend to be asked about the transformation of the Roman world. First, how did Roman fiscal structures continue, disintegrate and transform? Second, how did emerging churches play a role in the redistribution of wealth through new administrative structures to create a new social system, what Ian Wood has called a ‘temple society’? These two processes – one focussing on the continuity or discontinuity of the Roman economic…
Approaching the Early Medieval Iberian Economy from the Ground Up
1. Early medieval Iberia has primarily been debated (but not investigated systematically) with one economic question in mind: how did the state and its rulers collect enough revenues to sustain the
The Business of Bishops
Visigothic Iberia experienced significant economic transformations from the sixth through the early eighth centuries, during which churches played an increasing ideological and material role. This article investigates the role of churches as key landholders in Visigothic Iberia, with a focus on how their growing wealth was managed. It explores three aspects of the intertwined relationship between churches, the state and the economy. First, it rev…
Past Answers to Present Concerns. The Relevance of the Premodern Past for 21st Century Policy Planners
How is history relevant to the present, or indeed the future? Governments around the world have used history to inform planning and decision‐making in various fields for years, but more recently it has taken on a renewed importance as governments grapple with increasingly complex challenges arising from the impacts of climatic change. Yet identifying “lessons from the past” is not straightforward. Especially in the case of big questions about his…
Antonio Carbone. Epidemic Cities
Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic
Archaeological evidence from funerary contexts is largely ignored in current scholarship on the First Plague Pandemic, despite the important information that burials and cemeteries can provide about how plague might have affected societies. Skeletal (mainly dental) remains are used in the paleogenomic search for victims of plague (Yersinia pestis), but significant contextual information is to be gained from plague-positive graves through bioarcha…
How Mediterranean Economies Were Shaped in the Early Middle Ages
History (10 works) · Geography (8 works) · Ancient history (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Economy (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Medicine (4 works)