Procopius

The Secret History was written by Procopius during his lifetime, but after his other works. This was a work written for himself and close friends, which he never intended to publish. The Secret History shows a different side to the events that happened in the Byzantine Empire. This book shows a different side to many different, well know rulers in Byzantine. Procopius portrays Antonina to be a very scandalous person with very little morals who would cheat on her husband every chance she got. Procopius also portrayed Belisarius as not the smartest person, who was constantly falling for his wives lies. He also portrays Justinian and Theodora in a much different light than what was common. He called both of them demons because of how horrible…

differences does Procopius see between the official and Secret History? Justinian during the reign of the Byzantium empire he had Procopius writing about him and about his government. Procopius had access to a lot of the fights that justinian fought therefore he had information from first hand and he was able to write about Justinian life. Procopius did a really good job during his life, he was the only historian who was able to write information about the Byzantium empire that it was true. he…

analyzed are as followed; “Perpetua’s Diary”, “Procopius’ Secret History”, “The Women from the Suras”, and “Pact of Kumar”. The first document, “Perpetua’s Diary”, is a section from a prison diary kept by a young woman, Vibia Perpetua, martyred in Carthage around the time of 202 or 203 CE. Being a diary entry and written in first person, the author of this document was Perpetua herself. She was a young woman,…

Wilson has a section dedicated to the schools in late antiquity. Wilson identifies what he believes to be important people during this time that had a lot of impact on schools in the empire. Some of the schools mentioned are located in Gaza, Athens, and Alexandria. “Gaza school is associated with the invention of the catena” (p. 33). Procopius most likely a member of the church was the chief member of the Gaza school. (p. 31). Procopius taught pupils to paraphrase sections of impotent text. It…

form, amasses a huge fortune; but still desires more (Procopius 65). There is no question that their simple being on earth is revolting. However, Procopius particularly finds the dishonesty and cruelty aspects of their lives sickening. The author has a negative view on multiple other characters in the story, which questions his judgement of character. The book begins focusing on the characters Belisarius, his wife Antonina, and their son by Christian rite of adoption-- Theodosius.…

This work gives us an idea of what Justinian and Theodora might actually have been like, while giving us an insight to how Procopius could have been treated and his feelings towards the royal couple. Given that Procopius waited to write this piece until Justinian had died, we can assume that he was afraid of Justinian and what kind of backlash may occur if he wrote this piece at a time where Justinian could read it. The title in itself, ‘The Secret History” is representative how Procopius felt…

Justinian used censorship to his advantage to make himself appear better in the public eye. Most reports of his actions were very whitewashed if not false at times. The main historian, Procopius, admitted that his accounts and others didn’t tell the whole story. He kept his true feelings in a separate secret document. As you might of heard on the news, similar situations are happening to many politicians today. The hidden document and the whitewashed one confirms that Justinian the Great was not…

plagued the secular government. Authors of the 5th and 6th centuries, like Procopius and St. Augustine, offer little to undermine that notion. One would be quick to assume that the general decline in quality of life in the late Eastern-Roman world would have a detrimental effect on the rights of women. However, contemporary research indicates that the opposite was true. Women in Constantinople during late-antiquity managed to not only retain the social gains made by the rise of Christianity,…

stable economy. However, with the Plague of Justinian, “slaves remained destitute of masters, and men who in former times were very prosperous were deprived of the service of their domestics who were either sick or dead…and work of every description ceased, and all the trades were abandoned by the artisans and all other work as well, such as each had in hand” (Procopius). In result of a skyrocketing mortality rate, there were multiple slaves who were without masters, and formerly affluent…

as not only immensely powerful but also graciously humble. With the ability to both save his followers from grave danger and at the same time keep himself from being overwhelmed with glory, because of his constant awareness of the ever present superior counter part in the heavens. As for the Women of the epic tale, the characters of Queen Modthryth, Queen Hygd, and Hrothgar’s daughter represent not only what an Anglo-Saxon women was expected to be but also what was undesirable of the time.…