Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent

late antique Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

scholar from

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea Maritima (; Greek: ''Parálios Kaisáreia''), formerly Strato's Tower, also known as Caesarea Palestinae, was an ancient city in the Sharon plain on the coast of the Mediterranean, now in ruins and included in an Israeli national park ...

. Accompanying the Roman general

Belisarius Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terri ...

Emperor Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

's wars, Procopius became the principal Roman historian of the 6th century, writing the ''History of the Wars'', the ''Buildings'', and the ''Secret History''.

Life

Apart from his own writings the main source for Procopius's life was an entry in the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

'',

pi.2479. See under 'Procopius' o
Suda On Line
a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975 which discusses his early life. He was a native of

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of ''

Palaestina Prima Palaestina Prima or Palaestina I was a Byzantine province that existed from the late 4th century until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, in the region of Palestine. It was temporarily lost to the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) in ...

''. He would have received a conventional upper class education in the

Greek classics Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are ...

and

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

, perhaps at the famous school at Gaza. He may have attended law school, possibly at

Berytus ) or Laodicea in Canaan (2nd century to 64 BCE) , image = St. George's Cathedral, Beirut.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Roman ruins of Berytus, in front of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in moder ...

(present-day

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

) or

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

(now

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

), and became a lawyer (''rhetor''). He evidently knew

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, as was natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor JustinianI, he became the legal adviser (') for

, a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire. Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the

Battle of Callinicum The Battle of Callinicum took place on Easter Saturday, 19 April 531 AD, between an army of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius and a Sasanian cavalry force commanded by Azarethes. After being defeated at the Battle of Dara, the Sasanians move ...

in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the

Nika riots The Nika riots ( el, Στάσις τοῦ Νίκα, translit=Stásis toû Níka), Nika revolt or Nika sedition took place against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They are often regarded as the ...

of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundus repressed with a massacre in the

Hippodrome The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...

. In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the Vandal kingdom in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, took part in the capture of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, and remained in Africa with Belisarius's successor Solomon the Eunuch when Belisarius returned east to the capital. Procopius recorded a few of the

extreme weather events of 535–536 The volcanic winter of 536 was the most severe and protracted episode of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The volcanic winter was caused by an eruption, with several possible locations proposed in various contin ...

, although these were presented as a backdrop to Byzantine military activities, such as a mutiny in and around Carthage. He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the

Ostrogothic kingdom The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), existed under the control of the Germanic peoples, Germanic Ostrogoths in Italian peninsula, Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553. In Italy, the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the ...

in Italy and experienced the Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days, ending in mid-March 538. He witnessed Belisarius's entry into the Gothic capital,

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

, in 540. Both the ''Wars'' and the ''Secret History'' suggest that his relationship with Belisarius cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths, now led by the able king

Totila Totila, original name Baduila (died 1 July 552), was the penultimate King of the Ostrogoths, reigning from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of the Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the t ...

, Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius's staff. As ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

'', Belisarius was an "illustrious man" ( la, vir illustris; grc-gre, ἰλλούστριος, ''illoústrios''); being his ', Procopius must therefore have had at least the rank of a "visible man" (''vir spectabilis''). He thus belonged to the mid-ranking group of the senatorial order ('). However, the ''Suda'', which is usually well informed in such matters, also describes Procopius himself as one of the '. Should this information be correct, Procopius would have had a seat in Constantinople's senate, which was restricted to the ' under Justinian. He also wrote that under Justinian's reign in 560, a major Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built on the site of the Temple Mount. It is not certain when Procopius died. Many historiansincluding Howard-Johnson, Cameron, and Geoffrey Greatrexdate his death to 554, but there was an urban prefect of Constantinople (') called Procopius in 562. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect. In fact, some scholars have argued that Procopius died at least a few years after 565 as he unequivocally states in the beginning of his ''Secret History'' that he planned to publish it after the death of Justinian for fear he would be tortured and killed by the emperor (or even by general Belisarius) if the emperor (or the general) learned about what Procopius wrote (his scathing criticism of the emperor, of his wife, of Belisarius, of the general's wife, Antonia: calling the former "demons in human form" and the latter incompetent and treacherous) in this later history. However, most scholars believe that the ''Secret History'' was written in 550 and remained unpublished during Procopius' lifetime.

Writings

The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor JustinianI. Procopius was the author of a history in eight books on the wars prosecuted by Justinian, a

panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc, ...

on the emperor's public works projects throughout the empire, and a book known as the ''Secret History'' that claims to report the scandals that Procopius could not include in his officially sanctioned history for fear of angering the emperor, his wife, Belisarius, and the general's wife and had to wait until all of them were dead to avoid retaliation.

''History of the Wars''

Procopius's ''Wars'' or ''History of the Wars'' ( grc-gre, Ὑπὲρ τῶν Πολέμων Λόγοι, ''Hypèr tōn Polémon Lógoi'', "Words on the Wars"; la, De Bellis, "On the Wars") is his most important work, although less well known than the ''Secret History''. The first seven books seem to have been largely completed by 545 and may have been published as a unit. They were, however, updated to mid-century before publication, with the latest mentioned event occurring in early 551. The eighth and final book brings the history to 553. The first two booksoften known as ''The Persian War'' ( la, De Bello Persico)deal with the conflict between the Romans and

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

Lazica Lazica ( ka, ეგრისი, ; lzz, ლაზიკა, ; grc-gre, Λαζική, ; fa, لازستان, ; hy, Եգեր, ) was the Latin name given to the territory of Colchis during the Roman/Byzantine period, from about the 1st centur ...

, and Iberia (present-day

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

). It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah KavadhI, the 532 'Nika' revolt, the war by Kavadh's successor KhosrauI in 540, his destruction of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, and the

great plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

that devastated the empire from 542. The ''Persian War'' also covers the early career of Procopius's patron

in some detail. The ''Wars''’ next two booksknown as ''The Vandal War'' or ''Vandalic War'' ( la, De Bello Vandalico)cover Belisarius's successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom that had occupied Rome's provinces in

northwest Africa The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

for the last century. The final four booksknown as ''The Gothic War'' ( la , De Bello Gothico)cover the Italian campaigns by Belisarius and others against the Ostrogoths. Procopius includes accounts of the 1st and 2nd sieges of Naples and the 1st,

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

, and 3rd sieges of Rome. He also includes an account of the rise of the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

(see ''

Arborychoi The Arborychoi (Ancient Greek language, Greek: Αρβόρυχοι) were a people mentioned by Procopius as living in Gaul in the 5th century AD. There is no consensus on who they were. Procopius mentions the Arborychoi in his description of the lan ...

''). The last book describes the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

Narses , image=Narses.jpg , image_size=250 , caption=Man traditionally identified as Narses, from the mosaic depicting Justinian and his entourage in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna , birth_date=478 or 480 , death_date=566 or 573 (aged 86/95) , allegi ...

's successful conclusion of the Italian campaign and includes some coverage of campaigns along the empire's eastern borders as well. The ''Wars'' proved influential on later Byzantine historiography. In the 570s Agathias wrote ''Histories'', a continuation of Procopius's work in a similar style.

''Secret History''

Procopius's now famous ''Anecdota'', also known as ''Secret History'' ( grc-gre, Ἀπόκρυφη Ἱστορία, ''Apókryphe Historía''; la, Historia Arcana), was discovered centuries later at the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

in Rome and published in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Niccolò Alamanni Niccolò Alamanni (Ancona, 12 January 1583 – Rome, 1626) was a Roman antiquarian of Greek origin. He was educated in Rome at the Greek College, founded by Gregory XIII, but was ordained deacon and priest according to the Latin rite. After t ...

in 1623. Its existence was already known from the ''

'', which referred to it as Procopius's "unpublished works" containing "comedy" and "invective" of Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius and Antonina. The ''Secret History'' covers roughly the same years as the first seven books of ''The History of the Wars'' and appears to have been written after they were published. Current consensus generally dates it to 550, or less commonly 558. In the eyes of many scholars, the ''Secret History'' reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with Emperor Justinian, his wife

Theodora Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift". Theodora may also refer to: Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodora of ...

, the general

, and his wife Antonina. The work claims to expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as the private lives of the emperor and his entourage. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal, and incompetent. In one passage, it is even claimed that he was possessed by demonic spirits or was himself a demon: Similarly, the Theodora of the ''Secret History'' is a garish portrait of vulgarity and insatiable lust juxtaposed with cold-blooded self-interest, shrewishness, and envious and fearful mean-spiritedness. Among the more titillating (and dubious) revelations in the ''Secret History'' is Procopius's account of Theodora's thespian accomplishments: Furthermore, ''Secret History'' portrays Belisarius as a weak man completely emasculated by his wife, Antonina, who is portrayed in very similar terms to Theodora. They are both said to be former actresses and close friends. Procopius claimed Antonina worked as an agent for Theodora against Belisarius, and had an ongoing affair with Belisarius' godson, Theodosius. On the other hand, it has been argued that Procopius prepared the ''Secret History'' as an exaggerated document out of fear that a conspiracy might overthrow Justinian's regime, whichas a kind of court historianmight be reckoned to include him. The unpublished manuscript would then have been a kind of insurance, which could be offered to the new ruler as a way to avoid execution or exile after the coup. If this hypothesis were correct, the ''Secret History'' would not be proof that Procopius hated Justinian or Theodora.

''The Buildings''

''The Buildings'' ( grc-gre, Περὶ Κτισμάτων, ''Perì Ktismáton''; la, De Aedificiis, "On Buildings") is a

on Justinian's public works projects throughout the empire.Downey, Glanville: "The Composition of Procopius, De Aedificiis", in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 78: pp. 171–183
abstract
from JSTOR The first book may date to before the collapse of the first dome of

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

in 557, but some scholars think that it is possible that the work postdates the building of the bridge over the Sangarius in the late 550s. Historians consider ''Buildings'' to be an incomplete work due to evidence of the surviving version being a draft with two possible redactions. ''Buildings'' was likely written at Justinian's behest, and it is doubtful that its sentiments expressed are sincere. It tells us nothing further about Belisarius, and it takes a sharply different attitude towards Justinian. He is presented as an idealised

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

emperor who built churches for the glory of God and defenses for the safety of his subjects. He is depicted showing particular concern for the water supply, building new

aqueducts Aqueduct may refer to: Structures *Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley *Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...

and restoring those that had fallen into disuse. Theodora, who was dead when this panegyric was written, is mentioned only briefly, but Procopius's praise of her beauty is fulsome. Due to the panegyrical nature of Procopius's ''Buildings'', historians have discovered several discrepancies between claims made by Procopius and accounts in other primary sources. A prime example is Procopius's starting the reign of Justinian in 518, which was actually the start of the reign of his uncle and predecessor By treating the uncle's reign as part of his nephew's, Procopius was able to credit Justinian with buildings erected or begun under Justin's administration. Such works include renovation of the walls of

Edessa Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...

after its 525 flood and consecration of several churches in the region. Similarly, Procopius falsely credits Justinian for the extensive refortification of the cities of Tomis and Histria in

Scythia Minor Scythia Minor or Lesser Scythia (Greek: , ) was a Roman province in late antiquity, corresponding to the lands between the Danube and the Black Sea, today's Dobruja divided between Romania and Bulgaria. It was detached from Moesia Inferior by t ...

. This had actually been carried out under who reigned before Justin.

Style

Procopius belongs to the school of

historians who continued the traditions of the

Second Sophistic The Second Sophistic is a literary-historical term referring to the Greek writers who flourished from the reign of Nero until c. 230 AD and who were catalogued and celebrated by Philostratus in his ''Lives of the Sophists''. However, some recent r ...

. They wrote in

Attic Greek Attic Greek is the Greek language, Greek dialect of the regions of ancient Greece, ancient region of Attica, including the ''polis'' of classical Athens, Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige diale ...

. Their models were

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

and in particular

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...

. Their subject matter was secular history. They avoided vocabulary unknown to Attic Greek and inserted an explanation when they had to use contemporary words. Thus Procopius includes glosses of monks ("the most temperate of Christians") and churches (as equivalent to a "temple" or "shrine"), since monasticism was unknown to the ancient Athenians and their ''ekklesía'' had been a popular assembly. The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church. Ecclesiastical history was left to a separate genre after

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

. However, Cameron has argued convincingly that Procopius's works reflect the tensions between the classical and Christian models of history in 6th-century Constantinople. This is supported by

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

's analysis of Procopius's depiction of the capital and its cathedral in comparison to contemporary pagan panegyrics. Procopius can be seen as depicting Justinian as essentially God's

vicegerent Vicegerent is the official administrative deputy of a ruler or head of state: ''vice'' (Latin for "in place of") and ''gerere'' (Latin for "to carry on, conduct"). In Oxford colleges, a vicegerent is often someone appointed by the Master of a c ...

, making the case for buildings being a primarily religious panegyric. Procopius indicates that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself and, if he had, he would probably have followed the rules of that genre. As far as known, however, such an ecclesiastical history was never written. Some historians have criticized Propocius's description of some barbarians, for example, he dehumanized the unfamiliar Moors as "not even properly human". This was however, inline with Byzantine ethnographic practice in late antiquity.

Legacy

A number of

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

s based on Procopius's works (along with other sources) have been written. ''

Count Belisarius ''Count Belisarius'' is a historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1938, recounting the life of the Byzantine general Belisarius (AD 500–565). Just as Graves's Claudius novels (''I, Claudius'' and ''Claudius the God and His Wife ...

'' was written by poet and novelist

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

in 1938. Procopius himself appears as a minor character in

Felix Dahn Felix Dahn (9 February 1834 – 3 January 1912) was a German law professor, German nationalism, German nationalist author, poet and historian. Biography Ludwig Julius Sophus Felix Dahn was born in Hamburg as the oldest son of Friedrich (1811–1 ...

's ''

A Struggle for Rome ''A Struggle for Rome'' (alternatively A Fight for Rome) is a historical novel written by Felix Dahn (under the original title Ein Kampf um Rom which appeared in 1876). Plot summary After the death of Theodoric the Great his successors try t ...

'' and in

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...

's alternate history novel ''

Lest Darkness Fall ''Lest Darkness Fall'' is an alternate history science fiction novel written in 1939 by American author L. Sprague de Camp. Alternate history author Harry Turtledove has said it sparked his interest in the genre as well as his desire to study ...

''. The novel's main character, archaeologist Martin Padway, derives most of his knowledge of historical events from the ''Secret History''. The narrator in

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

's novel ''

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler, whaling ship ''Pequod (Moby- ...

'' cites Procopius's description of a captured sea monster as evidence of the narrative's feasibility.

List of selected works

* * ** * *

Notes

References

* ''This article is based on a
earlier version
by James Allan Evans, originally posted at

Nupedia Nupedia was an English-language, online encyclopedia whose articles were written by volunteer contributors with appropriate subject matter expertise, reviewed by expert editors before publication, and licensed as free content. It was founded by ...

.''

*Adshead, Katherine: ''Procopius' Poliorcetica: continuities and discontinuities'', in: G. Clarke et al. (eds.): ''Reading the past in late antiquity'', Australian National UP, Rushcutters Bay 1990, pp. 93–119 *Alonso-Núñez, J. M.:
Jordanes and Procopius on Northern Europe
', in: ''Nottingham Medieval Studies'' 31 (1987), 1–16. *Amitay, Ory:
Procopius of Caesarea and the Girgashite Diaspora
', in: ''Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha'' 20 (2011), 257–276. *Anagnostakis, Ilias:
Procopius's dream before the campaign against Libya: a reading of Wars 3.12.1-5
', in: C. Angelidi and G. Calofonos (eds.),
Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond
', Farnham: Ashgate Publishing 2014, 79–94. *Bachrach, Bernard S.:
Procopius, Agathias and the Frankish Military
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English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and wo ...

'' 70 (1955), 258–261. *Cameron, Averil: ''Procopius and the Sixth Century''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. *Cameron, Averil: ''The scepticism of Procopius'', in: ''Historia'' 15 (1966), 466–482. *Colvin, Ian: ''Reporting Battles and Understanding Campaigns in Procopius and Agathias: Classicising Historians' Use of Archived Documents as Sources'', in: A. Sarantis (ed.): ''War and warfare in late antiquity. Current perspectives'', Leiden: Brill 2013, 571–598. *Cresci, Lia Raffaella: ''Procopio al confine tra due tradizioni storiografiche'', in: ''Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica'' 129 (2001), 61–77. *Cristini, Marco: ''Il seguito ostrogoto di Amalafrida: confutazione di Procopio, Bellum Vandalicum 1.8.12'', in: ''Klio'' 99 (2017), 278–289. *Cristini, Marco: ''Totila and the Lucanian Peasants: Procop. Goth. 3.22.20'', in: ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 61 (2021), 73–84. *Croke, Brian and James Crow: ''Procopius and Dara'', in: ''The Journal of Roman Studies'' 73 (1983), 143–159. *Downey, Glanville:
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Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

13 (1959), 23–30. *Greatrex, Geoffrey: ''Procopius and the Persian Wars'', D.Phil. thesis, Oxford, 1994. *Greatrex, Geoffrey: ''The dates of Procopius' works'', in: BMGS 18 (1994), 101–114. *Greatrex, Geoffrey: ''The Composition of Procopius' Persian Wars and John the Cappadocian'', in: ''Prudentia'' 27 (1995), 1–13. *Greatrex, Geoffrey: ''Rome and Persia at War, 502–532''. London: Francis Cairns, 1998. *Greatrex, Geoffrey: ''Recent work on Procopius and the composition of Wars VIII'', in: BMGS 27 (2003), 45–67. *Greatrex, Geoffrey:
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', in: ''Histos'' 8 (2014), 76–121 and 121a–e (''addenda''). *Greatrex, Geoffrey: ''Procopius of Caesarea: The Persian Wars. A Historical Commentary.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022. *Howard-Johnson, James: ''The Education and Expertise of Procopius'', in: ''Antiquité Tardive'' 10 (2002), 19–30 * Kaçar, Turhan:
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007 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

, 189–218. *Kaldellis, Anthony:
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The Date and Structure of Prokopios’ Secret History and his Projected Work on Church History
', in: ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', Vol. 49 (2009), 585–616. *Kovács, Tamás
"Procopius's Sibyl - the fall of Vitigis and the Ostrogoths"
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The Classical Quarterly ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

63 (2013), 866–881. * Lillington-Martin, Christopher, 2007–2017: ** 2007, "Archaeological and Ancient Literary Evidence for a Battle near Dara Gap, Turkey, AD 530: Topography, Texts and Trenches" in BAR –S1717, 2007 The Late Roman Army in the Near East from Diocletian to the Arab Conquest Proceedings of a colloquium held at Potenza, Acerenza and Matera, Italy edited by Ariel S. Lewin and Pietrina Pellegrini, pp. 299–311; ** 2009, "Procopius, Belisarius and the Goths" in Journal of the Oxford University History Society,(2009) Odd Alliances edited by Heather Ellis and Graciela Iglesias Rogers. , pages 1– 17, https://sites.google.com/site/jouhsinfo/issue7specialissueforinternetexplorer; ** 2011, "Secret Histories", http://classicsconfidential.co.uk/2011/11/19/secret-histories/; ** 2012, "Hard and Soft Power on the Eastern Frontier: a Roman Fortlet between Dara and Nisibis, Mesopotamia, Turkey: Prokopios’ Mindouos?" in The Byzantinist, edited by Douglas Whalin, Issue 2 (2012), pp. 4–5, http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/obsnews2012final.pdf; ** 2013, ''Procopius on the struggle for Dara and Rome'', in A. Sarantis, N. Christie (eds.): ''War and Warfare in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives'' (Late Antique Archaeology 8.1–8.2 2010–11), Leiden: Brill 2013, pp. 599–630, ; ** 2013 “La defensa de Roma por Belisario” in: ''Justiniano I el Grande'' (Desperta Ferro) edited by Alberto Pérez Rubio, no. 18 (July 2013), pages 40–45, ISSN 2171-9276; ** 2017, ''Procopius of Caesarea: Literary and Historical Interpretations'' (editor), Routledge (July 2017)
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The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

III'', Cambridge 1992, 1060–1066. *Max, Gerald E., "Procopius' Portrait of the (Western Roman) Emperor Majorian: History and Historiography," Sonderdruck Aus Band 74/1981, pp. 1-6. *Meier, Mischa: ''Prokop, Agathias, die Pest und das ′Ende′ der antiken Historiographie'', in ''

Historische Zeitschrift ''Historische Zeitschrift'', founded in 1859 by Heinrich von Sybel is considered to be the first and for a time the foremost historical journal. The creation of this journal inspired Gabriel Monod to found the French '' Revue historique'' in 1876. ...

'' 278 (2004), 281–310. *Meier, Mischa and Federico Montinaro (eds.): ''A Companion to Procopius of Caesarea.'' Brill, Leiden 2022, ISBN 978-3-89781-215-4. *Pazdernik, Charles F.:
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', in: ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 46 (2006) 175–206. *Rance, Philip:
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', in: ''Historia. Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte'' 30.4 (2005) 424–472. *Rubin, Berthold: ''Prokopios'', in '' Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft'' 23/1 (1957), 273–599. Earlier published (with index) as ''Prokopios von Kaisareia'', Stuttgart: Druckenmüller, 1954. *Stewart, Michael,
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', Cerae 2 (2015), pp. 1–25. *Stewart, Michael, Masculinity, Identity, and Power Politics in the Age of Justinian: A Study of Procopius, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020:https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462988231/masculinity-identity-and-power-politics-in-the-age-of-justinian *Treadgold, Warren: ''The Early Byzantine Historians'', Basingstoke: Macmillan 2007, 176–226.
The Secret History of Art by Noah Charney on the Vatican Library and Procopius
An article by art historian

Noah Charney Noah Charney (born November 27, 1979) is an American art historian and novelist. He is the author of ''The Art Thief,'' a mystery novel about a series of thefts from European museums and churches, and is the founder of the Association for Res ...

about the Vatican Library and its famous manuscript, ''Historia Arcana'' by Procopius. *Whately, Conor, ''Battles and Generals: Combat, Culture, and Didacticism in Procopius' Wars''. Leiden, 2016. *Whitby, L. M. "Procopius and the Development of Roman Defences in Upper Mesopotamia", in P. Freeman and D. Kennedy (ed.), ''

The Defence of the Roman and Byzantine East ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', Oxford, 1986, 717–35.

External links

Texts of Procopius

Complete Works
Greek text (Migne

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) with analytical indexes
The Secret History
English translation (Atwater, 1927) at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook

English translation (Dewing, 1935) at

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The Buildings
English translation (Dewing, 1935) at LacusCurtius

Greek text with commentaries, index nominum, etc. at Sorin Olteanu's LTDM Project * * * * H. B. Dewing's Loeb edition of the works of Procopius
vols. I–VI at the Internet Archive
(''History of the Wars'', ''Secret History'') *

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(1888):
Of the buildings of Justinian
' by Procopius, (ca 560 A.D)
Complete Works 1
Greek ed. by K. W. Dindorf, Latin trans. by

Claude Maltret Claude Maltret (October 3, 1621 – January 3, 1674) was a French Jesuit. Maltret was born at Puy in Savoy, Kingdom of France . He entered the Society of Jesus on October 12, 1637. Upon the completion of his studies, he was engaged for eleven ye ...

in ''

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Pars II Vol. 1'', 1833. (''Persian Wars I–II'', ''Vandal Wars I–II'')
Complete Works 2
Greek ed. by K. W. Dindorf, Latin trans. by Claude Maltret in ''Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol. 2'', 1833. (''Gothic Wars I–IV'')
Complete Works 3
Greek ed. by K. W. Dindorf, Latin trans. by Claude Maltret in ''Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol. 3'', 1838. (''Secret History'', ''Buildings of Justinian'')

Secondary material

* * {{Authority control 500 births 565 deaths 6th-century Byzantine historians Historians of Justinian I Secret histories De bello Gothico Vandalic War People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars