The Plague of Emmaus, also known as the Plague of Amwas, is an outbreak of plague, possibly bubonic plague, that occurs in 639 in the Palestinian town of Emmaus (Amwas), which had been re-founded as the city of Nicopolis in 221 by the Roman Emperor Elagabalus.
After the plague, the city disappears.
This plague epidemic is famous in Muslim sources because of the death of many prominent companions of the Prophet, Muhammad.
Twenty-five thousand people die in this outbreak of plague, which is considered part of the outbreaks in the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries that follow the major pandemic of the 6th century, the Plague of Justinian.
