The sixth century was a period of heightened apocalyptic anxiety. Three centuries earlier, Hippolytus of Rome predicted that the world would end in 6000 anno mundi, circa 500 CE. The “YK6 problem” lead to panic and rumours of the immanent end. The anonymous Oracle of Baalbek, depicts the Emperor Anastasius (r. 491-518) as a destroyer who would usher in the destruction of the empire at the hands of the Persians.

Although the world continued after Anastasius’s reign, the anxieties provoked by such speculation were fuelled by a series of natural disasters. Byzantines attributed causation for fires, earthquakes, and plagues to divine punishment. Authors saw comets as portents of God’s impending wrath. Procopius of Caesarea depicted the Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565) as the son of a demon in his Secret History.

This paper examines the rise of apocalyptic discourse in the sixth century, from its early beginnings in millenarianism, to its mainstream use as a means of establishing divine causation for natural disasters. Included are themes such as theodicy, sin, and imperial critique as they appear in apocalyptic literature, such as the Oracle of Baalbek, and historians and chroniclers, such as John Malalas, John of Ephesus, and Procopius of Caesarea.