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Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar and historian from
Caesarea Maritima Caesarea () also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Judaea (Roman province), ...
. Accompanying the Roman general
Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...
in Emperor Justinian's wars, Procopius became the principal Roman historian of the 6th century, writing the ''History of the Wars'', the ''Buildings'', and the ''Secret History''.


Early life

Apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius's life is an entry in the ''
Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...
'',
Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...
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 in the
province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of '' Palaestina Prima''. He would have received a conventional upper-class education in the Greek classics and
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
, perhaps at the famous school at Gaza. He may have attended law school, possibly at Berytus (present-day
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
) or
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
(now
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
), and became a lawyer (''rhetor''). He evidently knew
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, as was natural for a man with legal training.


Career

In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor JustinianI, he became the legal adviser (') for
Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...
, 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 in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundus repressed with a massacre in the
Hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...
there. In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the
Vandal kingdom The Vandal Kingdom () or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans () was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, which was a barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom established under Gaiseric, a Vandals, Vandalic warlord. It ruled parts of North Africa and th ...
in
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
, took part in the capture of
Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, 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 classic ...
, 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, 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 (), was a barbarian kingdom established by the Germanic Ostrogoths that controlled Italian peninsula, Italy and neighbouring areas between 493 and 553. Led by Theodoric the Great, the Ost ...
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 ; ) 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 during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...
, 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, Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius's staff. As ''
magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...
'', Belisarius was an "illustrious man" (; , ''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.


Death

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 (') who was called Procopius in 562. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect.


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 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. Consequently, publication was delayed until all of them were dead to avoid retaliation.


''History of the Wars''

Procopius's ''Wars'' or ''History of the Wars'' (, ''Hypèr tōn Polémon Lógoi'', "Words on the Wars"; , "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 set. They were, however, updated to mid-century before publication, with the latest mentioned event occurring in early 551. The eighth and final book brought the history to 553. The first two booksoften known as ''The Persian War'' ()deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
,
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
,
Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
,
Lazica The Kingdom of Lazica (; ; ), sometimes called Lazian Empire, was a state in the territory of west Georgia in the Roman era, Georgia in the Roman period, from about the 1st century BC. Created as a result of the collapse of the kingdom of Colc ...
, and
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
(present-day
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
). 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 (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...
and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, and the great plague that devastated the empire from 542. The ''Persian War'' also covers the early career of Procopius's patron
Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...
in some detail. The ''Wars''’ next two booksknown as ''The Vandal War'' or ''Vandalic War'' ()cover Belisarius's successful campaign against the
Vandal kingdom The Vandal Kingdom () or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans () was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, which was a barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom established under Gaiseric, a Vandals, Vandalic warlord. It ruled parts of North Africa and th ...
that had occupied Rome's provinces in northwest Africa for the last century. The final four booksknown as ''The Gothic War'' ()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, and 3rd sieges of Rome. He also includes an account of the rise of the
Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
(see '' Arborychoi''). The last book describes the
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, 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 2 ...
Narses's successful conclusion of the Italian campaign and includes some coverage of campaigns along the empire's eastern borders as well. The War histories contain various longer excursions on different topics. These serve both literary and thematic purposes by providing the necessary background information as well as contextualising the acts of war described on different levels. 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'' (, ''Apókryphe Historía''; ), was discovered centuries later at the
Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...
in Rome and published in
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
by Niccolò Alamanni in 1623. Its existence was already known from the ''
Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...
'', 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, the general
Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...
, 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: Justinian and Theodora are portrayed as the antithesis of good rulers, with each representing the opposite side of the emotional spectrum. Justinian was approachable and kindly, even while ordering property confiscations or people's destruction. Conversely, Theodora was described as irrational and driven by her anger, often by minor affronts. 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.


''The Buildings''

''The Buildings'' (, ; , "On Buildings") is a panegyric 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 (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...
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 A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
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 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 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 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. This had been carried out under who reigned before Justin.


Interpretations of Procopius' works

Procopius is generally believed to be aligned with the senatorial ranks that disagreed with Justinian's tax policy (''Secret History'' 12.12-14). Overtime, Procopius' initial optimism may have been replaced by his disillusionment with Belisarius and increasing dislike of Justinian. Henning Börm has 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 an insurance that could be offered to the new ruler as a way to avoid punishment. If this hypothesis is correct, the ''Secret History'' would not be proof that Procopius hated Justinian or Theodora. Anthony Kaldellis suggests that the ''Secret History'' tells the dangers of "the rule of women". For Procopius, it was not that women could not lead an empire, but only women demonstrating masculine virtues could. According to Averil Cameron, the definition of "feminine" behavior in the sixth century would be described as "intriguing" and "interfering". At his core, Procopius wanted to preserve the social order. Cameron makes a case that all of his works form a continuous, unified discourse, rather than being contradictory to one another. In her view, Procopius was a better reporter than a historian, whose strength lay in descriptions rather than analyses. She argues that his vision is too black-and-white and remains almost silent on theological and ecclesiastical debates. However, Shaun Tougher notes Procopius' intention to write an ecclesiastical history, which may have provided a more holistic picture of his time, and argues that Procopius should not be assessed as negatively.


Style

Procopius belongs to the school of late antique historians who continued the traditions of the Second Sophistic. 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 (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
,
Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...
and in particular
Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...
. 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 (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...
. Cameron has argued that Procopius's works reflect the tensions between the classical and Christian models of history in 6th-century Constantinople. This has been supported by
Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...
'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 ...
, 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 a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...
s based on Procopius's works (along with other sources) have been written. '' Count Belisarius'' was written by poet and novelist Robert Graves in 1938. Procopius himself appears as a minor character in Felix Dahn's '' A Struggle for Rome'' and in L. Sprague de Camp's alternate history novel '' Lest Darkness Fall''. 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 novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...
's novel ''
Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...
'' cites Procopius's description of a captured sea monster as evidence of the narrative's feasibility. A fictionalized version of Procopius, named Pertennius, appears in the fantasy novelist Guy Gavriel Kay's duology The Sarantine Mosaic.


List of selected works

* * Seven volumes, Greek text and English translation. ** * English translation of the ''Anecdota''. *


See also

*
Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...
*
Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...


Notes


References

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


Bibliography

*
Review in English by G. Greatrex
an
Review in English by A. Kaldellis
* * * * * * *


Further reading

* 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
', in: ''Speculum'' 45 (1970), 435–441. * Bachrach, Bernard S.: ''Procopius and the chronology of Clovis's reign'', in: ''Viator'' 1 (1970), 21–32. * Baldwin, Barry: ''An Aphorism in Procopius'', in: ''Rheinisches Museum für Philologie'' 125 (1982), 309–311. * Baldwin, Barry: ''Sexual Rhetoric in Procopius'', in: ''Mnemosyne'' 40 (1987), pp. 150–152 * Belke, Klaus:
Prokops De aedificiis, Buch V, zu Kleinasien
', in: ''Antiquité Tardive'' 8 (2000), 115–125. * Börm, Henning:
Procopius of Caesarea
', in ''Encyclopaedia Iranica Online'', New York 2013. * Börm, Henning:
Procopius, his predecessors, and the genesis of the Anecdota: Antimonarchic discourse in late antique historiography
', in: H. Börm (ed.): ''Antimonarchic discourse in Antiquity''. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2015, 305–346. * Braund, David: ''Procopius on the Economy of Lazica'', in: ''The Classical Quarterly'' 41 (1991), 221–225. * Brodka, Dariusz: ''Die Geschichtsphilosophie in der spätantiken Historiographie. Studien zu Prokopios von Kaisareia, Agathias von Myrina und Theophylaktos Simokattes''. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2004. * Brodka, Dariusz: ''Prokop von Caesarea.'' Hildesheim: Olms 2022. * Burn, A. R.:
Procopius and the island of ghosts
', in: '' English Historical Review'' 70 (1955), 258–261. * 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. * 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:
The Composition of Procopius, De Aedificiis
', in: ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 78 (1947), 171–183. * Evans, James A. S.: ''Justinian and the Historian Procopius'', in: ''Greece & Rome'' 17 (1970), 218–223. * Gordon, C. D.: ''Procopius and Justinian's Financial Policies'', in: Phoenix 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:
Perceptions of Procopius in Recent Scholarship
', 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:
Procopius in Turkey
, ''Histos'' Supplement 9 (2019) 19.1–8. * Kaegi, Walter: ''Procopius the military historian,'' in: ''Byzantinische Forschungen.'' 15, 1990, , 53–85
online (PDF; 989 KB)
. * Kaldellis, Anthony:
Classicism, Barbarism, and Warfare: Prokopios and the Conservative Reaction to Later Roman Military Policy
', ''American Journal of Ancient History'', n.s. 3-4 (2004-2005 007, 189–218. * Kaldellis, Anthony:
Identifying Dissident Circles in Sixth-Century Byzantium: The Friendship of Prokopios and Ioannes Lydos
', ''Florilegium'', Vol. 21 (2004), 1–17. * Kaldellis, Anthony:
Prokopios’ Persian War: A Thematic and Literary Analysis
', in: R. Macrides, ed., ''History as Literature in Byzantium'', Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010, 253–273. * Kaldellis, Anthony:
Prokopios’ Vandal War: Thematic Trajectories and Hidden Transcripts
', in: S. T. Stevens & J. Conant, eds., ''North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam'', Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2016, 13–21. * Kaldellis, Anthony:
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"
''Graeco-Latina Brunensia'' 24.2 (2019), 113–124. * Kruse, Marion:
The Speech of the Armenians in Procopius: Justinian's Foreign Policy and the Transition between Books 1 and 2 of the Wars
', in: The Classical Quarterly 63 (2013), 866–881. * Lillington-Martin, Christopher: "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, 2007, pp. 299–311; * Lillington-Martin, Christopher: "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 * Lillington-Martin, Christopher: "Secret Histories", 2011, http://classicsconfidential.co.uk/2011/11/19/secret-histories/ * Lillington-Martin, Christopher: "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 * Lillington-Martin, Christopher: ''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, ; * Lillington-Martin, Christopher: “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 * Lillington-Martin, Christopher (ed.): ''Procopius of Caesarea: Literary and Historical Interpretations''. Routledge (2017)
www.routledge.com/9781472466044
* Maas, Michael Robert: ''Strabo and Procopius: Classical Geography for a Christian Empire'', in H. Amirav et al. (eds.): ''From Rome to Constantinople. Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron'', Leuven: Peeters, 2007, 67–84. * Martindale, John: '' The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire III'', Cambridge 1992, 1060–1066. * Max, Gerald E., "Procopius' Portrait of the (Western Roman) Emperor Majorian: History and Historiography," ''Byzantinische Zeitschrift'', Sonderdruck Aus Band 74/1981, pp. 1–6. * Meier, Mischa: ''Prokop, Agathias, die Pest und das ′Ende′ der antiken Historiographie'', in '' Historische Zeitschrift'' 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.:
Xenophon’s Hellenica in Procopius’ Wars: Pharnabazus and Belisarius
', in: ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 46 (2006) 175–206. * Rance, Philip:
Narses and the Battle of Taginae (552 AD): Procopius and Sixth-Century Warfare
', in: ''Historia. Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte'' 30.4 (2005) 424–472. * Rubin, Berthold: ''Prokopios'', in ''
Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...
'' 23/1 (1957), 273–599. Earlier published (with index) as ''Prokopios von Kaisareia'', Stuttgart: Druckenmüller, 1954. * Stewart, Michael,
Contests of Andreia in Procopius’ Gothic Wars
', ''Παρεκβολαι'' 4 (2014), pp. 21–54. * Stewart, Michael,
The Andreios Eunuch-Commander Narses: Sign of a Decoupling of martial Virtues and Hegemonic Masculinity in the early Byzantine Empire?
', Cerae 2 (2015), pp. 1–25. * * 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 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'', Oxford, 1986, 717–35.


External links


Texts of Procopius

* * * *
Complete Works
Greek text (Migne Patrologia Graeca) with analytical indexes
The Secret History
English translation (Atwater, 1927) at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook

English translation (Dewing, 1935) at LacusCurtius
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'') * Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (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 in '' Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae 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 500s births 565 deaths 6th-century Byzantine historians Historians of Justinian I Secret histories De bello Gothico Vandalic War People from Caesarea Maritima People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars