The Virus of Regression: Deconstructing the Pandemic Myth of Antiquity’s Demise

Abstract

The aim of the study consists in the systematic deconstruction of pandemic myths of Antiquity as specific instruments of socio-political management and informational modeling of regression. The study is aimed at rethinking the role of mass epidemics in the decline of the Roman Empire by identifying ideological layers in narrative sources and analyzing the mechanisms of legitimizing administrative degradation through appeals to biological threats.

The methodology  is based on an interdisciplinary synthesis of historical revisionism, the sociology of knowledge, and comparative textual analysis. Central to the study is the method of deconstructing the "Black Legend," which allows for the interpretation of a pandemic as a managerial construct. The work relies on the principles of quantitative skepticism, where the testimonies of ancient chroniclers are verified by cross-referencing them with archaeological data, economic indicators, and an analysis of resource expenditures on large-scale architectural projects, specifically using the construction of the Hagia Sophia as an example.

The results of the study demonstrate that descriptions of pandemics in Late Antique sources (specifically those of Procopius of Caesarea and Bishop Cyprian) are largely a literary simulation and a replication of the canonical tropes of Thucydides. An "architectural-economic paradox" has been identified, characterized by the preservation of high state economic and construction activity despite the declarative extinction of the population. It is proven that epidemics were used as an "informational shield" to cover the dismantling of complex civilizational structures, the shifting of ideological paradigms, and the seizing of organizational leadership by new elites under conditions of artificially induced social chaos.

The scientific novelty lies in the radical revision of the role of pandemics in the demise of the Ancient world, viewing them not as a natural factor but as a specific informational mechanism for legitimizing socio-cultural regression. The study is the first to apply the concept of the "virus of regression," which allows for the interpretation of pandemic narratives as a tool for managing historical memory and concealing the real causes of administrative and technological collapse. The manipulative nature of the pandemic myth within the system of ancient state PR is proven through the analysis of the discrepancy between the "text of extinction" and the reality of available resources.

The conclusions confirm that the decline of the Ancient world was not a biological event but the result of the civilizational informational field being compromised by a "virus of regression." The pandemic myth proved to be an effective tool for legitimizing the transition to irrational management doctrines, as it allowed for the transformation of systemic institutional degradation into an "unavoidable natural disaster." Modern archaeological and paleogenetic data confirm the resilience of the ancient "megamachine," ultimately moving the topic of pandemics from the realm of medicine into the realm of social engineering and mass communication technologies.