This article is about the historian and author of the Secret History. For other persons with the given name, see
Procopius (given name). For the spider genus, see
Procopius (spider).
Procopius of Caesarea (
Greek: Προκόπιος ὁ ΚαισαρεύςProkópios ho Kaisareús;
Latin: Procopius Caesariensis;
c. 500–565) was a prominent
late antiqueGreek 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
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
In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor
JustinianI, 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: ἰλλούστριος, illoústrios); 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
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
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 (
Greek: Ὑπὲρ τῶν Πολέμων Λόγοι, Hypèr tōn Polémon Lógoi, "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
KavadhI, the 532
'Nika' revolt, the war by Kavadh's successor
KhosrauI 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
eunuchNarses'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
Procopius's now famous Anecdota, also known as Secret History (
Greek: Ἀπόκρυφη Ἱστορία, Apókryphe Historía;
Latin: Historia Arcana), was discovered centuries later at the
Vatican Library in Rome[20] and published in
Lyon by
Niccolò 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
The Buildings (
Greek: Περὶ Κτισμάτων, Perì Ktismáton;
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
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 ekklesía 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
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]
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.
Downey, G.; Dewing, Henry B., eds. (1940). Buildings of Justinian.
Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Procopius: The Secret History. Penguin Classics. Translated by
Williamson, G. A. Revised by Peter Sarris. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 2007 [1966].
ISBN978-0140455281.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (
link) English translation of the Anecdota.
Prokopios: The Secret History. Translated by Anthony Kaldellis. Indianapolis: Hackett. 2010.
ISBN978-1603841801.
^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. Börm 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.
^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] Προκόπιος Καισαρεὺς τοὺς πολέμους ξυνέγραψεν οὓς Ἰουστινιανὸς ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς πρὸς βαρβάρους διήνεγκε τούς τε ἑῴους καὶ ἑσπερίους,... 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.
^
abDowney, 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.
This article is based on an
earlier version by James Allan Evans, originally posted at
Nupedia.
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
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.
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.
Kaldellis, Anthony: Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
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;
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,
ISBN978-90-04-25257-8;
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),
www.routledge.com/9781472466044;
2017, "Introduction" and chapter 10, “Procopius, πάρεδρος / 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.
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.
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.
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)