Procopius - Life, Writings, Context

Byzantine historian, born in Caesarea (now in Israel). He studied law, and accompanied Belisarius against the Persians (526), the Vandals in Africa (533), and the Ostrogoths in Italy (536). He was highly honoured by Justinian, and seems to have been appointed prefect of Constantinople in 562. His principal works are histories of the Persian, Vandal, and Gothic wars, and an attack on the court of Justinian.

For other people named Procopius, see Procopius (gens). Procopius is also a spider genus (Corinnidae).

Life

Other than his own writings, the main source for Procopius' life is an entry in the Suda, a 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia that tells nothing about his early life. In 527, the first year of Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I's reign, he became the assessor (legal adviser) for Belisarius, Justinian's chief military commander who was then beginning a brilliant career.

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 Mundo repressed with a massacre in the Hippodrome. 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' staff.

We do not know when Procopius himself died, and the pre-eminent historian James Howard-Johnson dates his death to 554, but in 562 there was an urban prefect of Constantinople who happened to be called Procopius.

Writings

The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian. Procopius was the author of a history in eight books of the wars fought by Justinian I, a panegyric on Justinian's public works throughout the empire, and a book known as the Secret History (Greek: Anekdota) that claims to report the scandals that Procopius could not include in his published history.

Justinian Wars

The first seven books of his History of Justinian's Wars, which were published as a unit, seem to have been largely completed by 545, but were updated to mid-century before publication, for the latest event mentioned belongs to early 551. Later, Procopius added an eighth book which brings the history to 552, when a Byzantine army led by the eunuch Narses finally destroyed the Ostrogothic kingdom. The first book of Procopius' De Aedificiis ("On Buildings") a panegyric of Justinian's building activity in the empire, may date to before the collapse of the first dome of Hagia Sophia in 557, but it is possible that the work postdates the building of the bridge over the Sangarius in the late 550s.

Secret History

The Secret History was discovered centuries later in the Vatican Library and published in 1623, but its existence was already known from the Suda, which referred to it as the Anekdota ("the unpublished composition"). The Secret History covers the same years as the seven books of the History of Justinian's Wars and appears to have been written after they were published.

The Secret History reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with the emperor Justinian and his wife, Theodora, as well as Belisarius, his old commander, and Antonina, Belisarius' wife, although it may reflect Procopius' adoption of the genre of invective. Justinian is raked over the coals as cruel, venal, prodigal and incompetent;

Among the more titillating (and doubtful) revelations in the Secret History is Procopius' account of Empress Theodora's thespian accomplishments:

Often, even in the theater, 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.

Her husband Justinian, meanwhile, was using his head, at least according this passage:

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;

De Aedificiis

The De Aedificiis tells us nothing further about Belisarius but it takes a sharply different attitude towards Justinian. The panegyric was likely written at Justinian's behest, however, and we may doubt if its sentiments are sincere.

Context

Procopius belongs to the school of late antique secular historians who continued the traditions of the Second Sophistic; Thus Procopius explains to his readers that ekklesia, meaning a Christian church, is the equivalent of a temple or shrine and that monks are "the most temperate of Christians...whom men are accustomed to call monks."

The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church, which they left to ecclesiastical history—a genre that was founded by Eusebius of Caesarea. Procopius indicated (Secret History 26.18) that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself and, if he had, he would probably have followed the rules of that genre.

A historical novel based on Procopius' works (along with other sources), Count Belisarius, was written by poet and novelist Robert Graves in 1938. Procopius, The Secret History, translated by G.A.