研究视角与史料--"查士丁尼瘟疫"研究

历史研究者的立场和观察问题的角度常常决定其对史料的选取、考证、解读和运用,进而影响其对历史问题作出的判断。6世纪拜占廷作家普罗柯比关于“查士丁尼瘟疫”的史料长期没有得到学术界应有的注意,相关研究的结论也大不相同。究其原因在于,过去人们大多以为“人力”胜于“天力”,关注的重点在当时的皇帝查士丁尼一世推行的内外政策上,而没有注意到这些史料记述的历史事件的重要性。目前,“查士丁尼瘟疫”作为地中海世界第一次“黑死病”的史实基本上无人质疑。但是,由于学者们研究的视角和出发点不同,这次瘟疫造成的严重后果似乎还没有引起史学界应有的注意。

Research Angles and Historical Materials--A Case Study of "Justinian Plague"

Selection and collection of historical materials, textual research and analysis of these data are often decided or directed by the research theory of historians who do their research from certain angle, which deeply influences on their conclusions. "Justinian Plague" recorded by Procupius, the Byzantine famous writer during the 6th century, has been identified with bubonic plague recent years. The detail recordation about this plague by Procupius has been ignored by Byzantinologists for a long time, and its terrible results have been neglected too. The reasons why scholars did not pay their attention to the record are their neglect of the bad influence of plague or human pestilence on history.