6th-century Byzantine scholar and historian
Procopius of Caesarea
(
Greek
:
Προκ?πιο? ? Καισαρε??
Prokopios ho Kaisareus
;
Latin
:
Procopius Caesariensis
;
c.
500
?565) was a prominent
late antique
Greek
scholar and historian from
Caesarea Maritima
.
[1]
[2]
Accompanying the Roman general
Belisarius
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
[
edit
]
Apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius's life is an entry in the
Suda
,
[3]
a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975 which discusses his early life. He was a native of
Caesarea
in the
province
of
Palaestina Prima
.
[4]
He would have received a conventional upper class education in the
Greek classics
and
rhetoric
,
[5]
perhaps at the famous
school at Gaza
.
[6]
He may have attended law school, possibly at
Berytus
(present-day
Beirut
) or
Constantinople
(now
Istanbul
),
[7]
[a]
and became a lawyer (
rhetor
).
[3]
He evidently knew
Latin
, as was natural for a man with legal training.
[b]
Career
[
edit
]
In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor
Justinian
I
, he became the legal adviser (
adsessor
) for
Belisarius
, a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire.
[c]
Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the
Battle of Callinicum
in 531
[11]
and recalled to Constantinople.
[12]
Procopius witnessed the
Nika riots
of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general
Mundus
repressed with a massacre in the
Hippodrome
there.
[13]
In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the
Vandal kingdom
in
North Africa
, took part in the capture of
Carthage
, 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
.
[14]
[d]
He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the
Ostrogothic kingdom
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
, in 540. Both the
Wars
[15]
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.
[
citation needed
]
As
magister militum
, Belisarius was an "illustrious man" (
Latin
:
vir illustris
;
Greek
:
?λλο?στριο?
,
illoustrios
); being his
adsessor
, 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 (
ordo senatorius
). However, the
Suda
, which is usually well-informed in such matters, also describes Procopius himself as one of the
illustres
. Should this information be correct, Procopius would have had a seat in
Constantinople's senate
, which was restricted to the
illustres
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
.
[16]
[
unreliable source?
]
Death
[
edit
]
It is not certain when Procopius died. Many historians?including
Howard-Johnson
,
Cameron
, and Geoffrey Greatrex?date his death to 554, but there was an urban prefect of Constantinople (
praefectus urbi Constantinopolitanae
) who was called Procopius in 562. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect.
[
citation needed
]
In fact, some scholars
[
who?
]
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.
[
citation needed
]
Writings
[
edit
]
The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor
Justinian
I
. 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
[
edit
]
Procopius's
Wars
or
History of the Wars
(
Greek
:
?π?ρ τ?ν Πολ?μων Λ?γοι
,
Hyper t?n Polemon Logoi
, "Words on the Wars";
Latin
:
De Bellis
, "On the Wars") is his most important work, although less well known than the
Secret History
.
[17]
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 books?often known as
The Persian War
(
Latin
:
De Bello Persico
)?deal with the conflict between the Romans and
Sassanid Persia
in
Mesopotamia
,
Syria
,
Armenia
,
Lazica
, and
Iberia
(present-day
Georgia
).
[18]
It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah
Kavadh
I
, the 532
'Nika' revolt
, the war by Kavadh's successor
Khosrau
I
in 540, his destruction of
Antioch
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
in some detail.
The
Wars
’ next two books?known as
The Vandal War
or
Vandalic War
(
Latin
:
De Bello Vandalico
)?cover Belisarius's
successful campaign
against the
Vandal kingdom
that had occupied Rome's provinces in
northwest Africa
for the last century.
The final four books?known as
The Gothic War
(
Latin
:
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
, and
3rd sieges of Rome
. He also includes an account of the rise of the
Franks
(see
Arborychoi
). The last book describes the
eunuch
Narses
'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.
[19]
In the 570s
Agathias
wrote
Histories
, a continuation of Procopius's work in a similar style.
Secret History
[
edit
]
Procopius's now famous
Anecdota
, also known as
Secret History
(
Greek
:
?π?κρυφη ?στορ?α
,
Apokryphe Historia
;
Latin
:
Historia Arcana
), was discovered centuries later at the
Vatican Library
in Rome
[20]
and published in
Lyon
by
Niccolo Alamanni
in 1623. Its existence was already known from the
Suda
, 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
, 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:
And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian's head vanished, while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it.
[21]
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:
Often, even in the theatre, in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience, but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon, she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat.
[22]
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, which?as a kind of court historian?might 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.
[23]
The Buildings
[
edit
]
The Buildings
(
Greek
:
Περ? Κτισμ?των
,
Peri Ktismaton
;
Latin
:
De Aedificiis
, "On Buildings") is a
panegyric
on Justinian's public works projects throughout the empire.
[24]
The first book may date to before the collapse of the first dome of
Hagia Sophia
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.
[25]
Historians consider
Buildings
to be an incomplete work due to evidence of the surviving version being a draft with two possible redactions.
[24]
[26]
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
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 actually the start of the reign of his uncle and predecessor
Justin I
.
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 actually been carried out under
Anastasius I
,
who reigned before Justin.
[27]
Style
[
edit
]
Procopius belongs to the school of
late antique
historians who continued the traditions of the
Second Sophistic
. They wrote in
Attic Greek
. Their models were
Herodotus
,
Polybius
and in particular
Thucydides
. 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
ekklesia
had been
a popular assembly
.
[28]
The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church. Ecclesiastical history was left to a separate genre after
Eusebius
. 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
's analysis of Procopius's depiction of the capital and
its cathedral
in comparison to contemporary pagan panegyrics.
[29]
Procopius can be seen as depicting Justinian as essentially God's
vicegerent
, making the case for buildings being a primarily religious panegyric.
[30]
Procopius indicates that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself
[31]
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.
[32]
Legacy
[
edit
]
A number of
historical novels
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
.
[33]
The narrator in
Herman Melville
's novel
Moby-Dick
cites Procopius's description of a
captured sea monster
as evidence of the narrative's feasibility.
[34]
List of selected works
[
edit
]
- J. Haury, ed. (1962?1964) [1905].
Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia
(in Greek). Revised by G. Wirth. Leipzig:
Teubner
.
4 volumes
- Dewing, H. B., ed. (1914?1940).
Procopius
. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and Hutchinson.
Seven volumes, Greek text and English translation.
- Procopius: The Secret History
. Penguin Classics. Translated by
Williamson, G. A.
Revised by Peter Sarris. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 2007 [1966].
ISBN
978-0140455281
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: others (
link
)
English translation of the
Anecdota
.
- Prokopios: The Secret History
. Translated by Anthony Kaldellis. Indianapolis: Hackett. 2010.
ISBN
978-1603841801
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
For an alternative reading of Procopius as a trained engineer, see Howard-Johnson.
[8]
- ^
Procopius uses and translates a number of Latin words in his
Wars
. Borm suggests a possible acquaintance with Vergil and Sallust.
[9]
- ^
Procopius speaks of becoming Belisarius's advisor (
symboulos
) in that year.
[10]
- ^
Before modern times, European and Mediterranean historians, as far as weather is concerned, typically recorded only the extreme or major weather events for a year or a multi-year period, preferring to focus on the human activities of policy makers and warriors instead.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Morcillo, Jesus Munoz; Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (30 November 2020).
Genealogy of Popular Science: From Ancient Ecphrasis to Virtual Reality
. Transcript. p. 332.
ISBN
978-3-8394-4835-9
.
- ^
Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther, eds. (2012).
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
.
Oxford University Press
. pp. 1214?1215.
ISBN
978-0-19-954556-8
.
Procopius: Greek historian, born in *Caesarea (2) in Palestine c. AD 500.
- ^
a
b
Suda
pi.2479. See under 'Procopius' on
Suda On Line
.
- ^
Procopius,
Wars of Justinian
I.1.1;
Suda
pi.2479. See under 'Procopius' on
Suda On Line
.
- ^
Cameron, Averil:
Procopius and the Sixth Century
, London: Duckworth, 1985, p.7.
- ^
Evans, James A. S.:
Procopius
. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972, p. 31.
- ^
Cameron,
Procopius and the Sixth Century
, p. 6.
- ^
Howard-Johnson, James: 'The Education and Expertise of Procopius'; in
Antiquite Tardive
10 (2002), 19?30.
- ^
Borm, Henning (2007)
Prokop und die Perser
, p.46. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart.
ISBN
978-3-515-09052-0
- ^
Procopius,
Wars
, 1.12.24.
- ^
Wars
, I.18.1-56.
- ^
Wars
, I.21.2.
- ^
Wars
, I.24.1-58.
- ^
1
.
- ^
Wars
, VIII.
- ^
Dolphin, Lambert (16 July 2021).
"Visiting the Temple Mount"
. Temple Mount
. Retrieved
18 October
2023
.
- ^
Procopius (1914).
"Procopius, de Bellis. H.B. (Henry Bronson) Dewing, Ed. [First section:] Procop. Pers. 1.1"
.
Perseus Digital Library
. Retrieved
18 October
2023
.
[Opening line in Greek] Προκ?πιο? Καισαρε?? το?? πολ?μου? ξυν?γραψεν ο?? ?ουστινιαν?? ? ?ωμα?ων βασιλε?? πρ?? βαρβ?ρου? δι?νεγκε το?? τε ??ου? κα? ?σπερ?ου?,... Translation: Procopius from Caesarea wrote the history of the wars of Roman Emperor Justinianus against the barbarians of the East and of the West..
. Greek text edition by Henry Bronson Dewing, 1914.
- ^
Borm, Henning.
Prokop und die Perser
. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2007.
- ^
Cresci, Lia Raffaella. "Procopio al confine tra due tradizioni storiografiche".
Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica
129.1 (2001) 61?77.
- ^
Mendelsohn, Daniel (26 December 2010).
"God's Librarians"
.
The New Yorker
.
- ^
Procopius,
Secret History
12.20?22, trans. Atwater.
- ^
Procopius
Secret History
9.20?21, trans. Atwater.
- ^
Cf. Borm (2015).
- ^
a
b
Downey, Glanville: "The Composition of Procopius, De Aedificiis", in
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
78: pp. 171?183;
abstract
from JSTOR.
- ^
Whitby, Michael: "Procopian Polemics: a review of A. Kaldellis
Procopius of Caesarea. Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity
", in
The Classical Review
55 (2006), pp. 648ff.
- ^
Cameron, Averil.
Procopius and the Sixth Century
. London: Routledge, 1985.
- ^
Croke, Brian and James Crow: "Procopius and Dara", in
The Journal of Roman Studies
73 (1983), 143?159.
- ^
Wars
, 2.9.14 and 1.7.22.
- ^
Buildings
, Book I.
- ^
Whitby, Mary: "Procopius'
Buildings
Book I: A Panegyrical Perspective", in
Antiquite Tardive
8 (2000), 45?57.
- ^
Secret History
, 26.18.
- ^
Kaldellis, Anthony (2013).
Ethnography after antiquity : foreign lands and peoples in Byzantine literature
. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 10.
ISBN
978-0-8122-0840-5
.
OCLC
859162344
.
- ^
de Camp, L. Sprague (1949).
Lest Darkness Fall
. Ballantine Books. p. 111.
- ^
Melville, Herman (1851).
Moby-Dick, or, the Whale
. Vol. c.1. London: Harper & Brothers.
doi
:
10.5962/bhl.title.62077
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- 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-Nunez, 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 fur 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:
Antiquite Tardive
8 (2000), 115?125.
- Borm, Henning:
Prokop und die Perser
. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2007. (
Review in English by G. Greatrex
and
Review in English by A. Kaldellis
)
- Borm, Henning:
Procopius of Caesarea
, in
Encyclopaedia Iranica Online
, New York 2013.
- Borm, Henning:
Procopius, his predecessors, and the genesis of the Anecdota: Antimonarchic discourse in late antique historiography
, in: H. Borm (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 spatantiken 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:
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:
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.
- Evans, James A. S.:
Procopius
. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972.
- 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:
Antiquite Tardive
10 (2002), 19?30
- Kacar, Turhan: "
Procopius in Turkey
",
Histos
Supplement 9 (2019) 19.1?8.
- Kaegi, Walter:
Procopius the military historian,
in:
Byzantinische Forschungen.
15, 1990,
ISSN
0167-5346
, 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 [2007]), 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:
Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity
. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
- 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.
- Kovacs, Tamas:
"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, 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.
ISSN
1742-917X
, pages 1? 17,
https://sites.google.com/site/jouhsinfo/issue7specialissueforinternetexplorer
Archived
2022-06-30 at the
Wayback Machine
;
- 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,
ISBN
978-90-04-25257-8
;
- 2013 “La defensa de Roma por Belisario” in:
Justiniano I el Grande
(Desperta Ferro) edited by Alberto Perez Rubio, no. 18 (July 2013), pages 40?45, ISSN 2171-9276;
- 2017,
Procopius of Caesarea: Literary and Historical Interpretations
(editor), Routledge (July 2017),
www.routledge.com/9781472466044
;
- 2017, "Introduction" and chapter 10, “Procopius,
π?ρεδρο? / quaestor, Codex Justinianus
, I.27 and Belisarius’ strategy in the Mediterranean” in
Procopius of Caesarea: Literary and Historical Interpretations
above.
- 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 fur alte Geschichte
30.4 (2005) 424?472.
- Rubin, Berthold:
Prokopios
, in
Realencyclopadie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft
23/1 (1957), 273?599. Earlier published (with index) as
Prokopios von Kaisareia
, Stuttgart: Druckenmuller, 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.
- 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
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
[
edit
]
Texts of Procopius
[
edit
]
- Works by Procopius in eBook form
at
Standard Ebooks
- Works by Procopius
at
Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Procopius
at
Internet Archive
- Works by Procopius
at
LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)
- Complete Works
, Greek text (Migne
Patrologia Graeca
) with analytical indexes
- The Secret History
, English translation (Atwater, 1927) at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
- The Secret History
, English translation (Dewing, 1935) at
LacusCurtius
- The Buildings
, English translation (Dewing, 1935) at LacusCurtius
- The Buildings, Book IV
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
)
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