PROCOPIUS of CAESAREA. - Byzantine historian, born toward the end of the 5th century, died after 563. Little is known of his life: he studied law and in 527, at the behest of Justinian, followed Belisarius on expeditions against the Persians, the Vandals, and the Goths. In 540 he retired to private life in his native Caesarea in Palestine, where he wrote the history of his times in three works.
The first, published in 544–45, in eight books, recounts the wars of Belisarius. The first two deal with the Persian War (Μηδικὸς πόλεμος or Μηδικὸς), the next two with the Vandalic War (Ἀβρυκὸς πόλεμος or Ἀβρυκὸς), and the last four with the Gothic War (Ποθικὸς πόλεμος or Ἰταλικὸς). They are written with the scrupulous accuracy of a historian, with intelligence, and with the authority of an eyewitness. The second work, Ἰταλικὸς τοῦ δεσποτότος Ἰουστινιανοῦ κτισμάτων, On the Buildings of Justinian, published in 560, is a panegyric of the emperor’s activity as a builder. Indeed, Procopius here extols, in a grandiose and not unadorned style, the countless constructions of fortifications, castles, harbors, churches, palaces, and cities with which Justinian had enriched the Empire during his long reign. The merit of this work lies in its valuable contribution to Byzantine archaeology and art history. Of an entirely different character is the third pamphlet, Ἀνέξωτος, “The Anecdota,” commonly called the “Secret History,” published many years after the author’s death and appended as Book IX to the histories of the wars. It is a venomous libel against Justinian, Belisarius, and their wives Theodora and Antonina, narrating shameful intimacies exaggerated by passionate virulence. Its authenticity can no longer be doubted; uncertain, however, remains the motive that prompted the author to compose it, since he had no personal grievance against these so wickedly virtuous personages.