An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World.
"The sun became dark and its darkness lasted for 18 months. Everyone declared that the sun would never recover its full light again."
So wrote John of Ephesus, one of the several chroniclers of the sixth century from around the world to record the Dark Sun event that started in 535. Historians have turned a blind eye to their testimony, not knowing how to make sense of it, but here in this groundbreaking book David Keys shows how they were describing a great natural disaster which he also reveals as the single most important factor in the formation of the modern world.
The great natural disaster described was a volcanic eruption which enveloped our planet with a cloak of lethal dust, changing the climate for decades. The sun's rays grew dim and total darkness reigned for days. It was a catastrophe of unparalleled proportions. Tens of millions of people died around the globe as a bubonic plague epidemic broke out. But in a way it was only the beginning of the crisis.
The waves of migration and the military, political and religious changes which the disaster set in motion re-ordered society throughout the world: the collapse of the Roman Empire, the invasion of the barbarian hordes and the rise of apocalypse-inspired Islam. It was the nearest humankind has ever come to Doomsday and it marked the real beginning of the modern era. David Keys sets the record straight by firmly placing the pivotal point in world history as the mid-sixth-century Dark Ages and shows how our fragile civilisation almost ended.
