PROCOPIO of CESAREA. — Byzantine historian, born around the end of the fifth century, died after 563. Little is known about his life: he studied jurisprudence and in 527, at Justin’s command, followed Belisarius on his campaigns against the Persians, the Vandals, and the Goths. In 540 he withdrew to private life in his native Caesarea of Palestine, where he wrote the history of his times in three works.
The first, published in 544–45 in eight books, narrates the wars of Belisarius. The first two deal with the Persian war (Μηθικὸς πόλεμος ο Μηθικὰ), the following two with the Vandalic war (Ανθικὸς πόλεμος ο Ανθικὰ), and the final four with the Gothic war (Γαθηνὸς πόλεμος ο Ἰταλικὰ); they are written with the scrupulous accuracy of a historian, with intelligence, and with the authority of an eyewitness. The second, Ητῷ τῶν τοῦ θεοπότου Ἰουστινιανοῦ κτισμάτων, «On the Buildings of Justinian», published in 560, is an exaltation of the Emperor’s activity as a builder. P. here illustrates, in a bombastic style not free from adulation, the innumerable constructions—fortifications, castles, ports, churches, palaces, and cities—with which Justinian, during his long reign, had enriched the Empire. The value of this work lies in its precious contribution to archaeology and the history of Byzantine art. Of an entirely different character is the third pamphlet: Ἀνέσδοτα, «The Unpublished», commonly called «The Secret History», published many years after the author’s death and appearing as Book IX of the histories of the wars. It is a malicious libel against Justinian, Belisarius, and their wives Theodora and Antonina, recounting shameful intimacies exaggerated by passionate virulence. Its authenticity can no longer be doubted; uncertain, however, remains the motive that induced the author to compose it, since he had no personal reasons against the figures so viciously reviled.