Procopius: History of the Wars, Secret History, and Buildings

by Procopius, Averil Cameron (Translator)

Vivid accounts of the Gothic and Persian wars by the leading Byzantine historian.

351 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published September 1, 1967

About the author

Procopius of Caesarea was born in the latter years of the fifth century at Caesarea in Palestine. He originated from the land-owning provincial upper class and, like Zosimus, became a civil servant. As early as A.D. 527, before the emperor Justin's death, Procopius became counsellor, assessor, and secretary to Belisarius, whose fortunes and campaigns he followed for the next twelve or fifteen years. Small wonder he became very knowledgeable of military affairs through this service. He has long been respected as a historian of the emperor Justinian’s wars, and is reckoned the greatest of the later Greek historians. Procopius was finally raised to the dignity of an illustrius, and died not earlier than A.D. 562.

Reviews

[Leroy Erickson]

I like reading history books, but there are history books and then there are history books. Reading a Shelby Foote book which was written in the 1950s or 1960s about the American civil war or a Rick Atkinson book written in the last 10 or 15 years about World War II is one thing. Reading a Procopius book written in 550 about the Roman wars is something completely different. Let's just say that the style of writing has changed a little bit. Still, it can be fun to read and educational, too. His one paragraph description of the Finns is a gem that I'll remember forever (and won't let my Finnish friends forget, either.) If you can put up with the writing style of 1500 years ago and you want to learn about what a total shambles the Roman Empire was in at that time, it's worth reading. Note that this edition of Procopius' "History of the Wars" and "Secret Wars" only contains about half of each of those books.