procopius of caesarea the secret history

Please also be assured that if you are overcharged for postage & packing via Esty we'll refund the overage.The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period.

If you're outside of the UK and buying more than one item, please contact us for combined shipping options. This is a lovely book but is secondhand so please see the photos to make sure you'll be happy with its condition. Please note that we sell vintage books and as such these are rarely perfect. The slipcase is solid but has a few marks. It is in lovely condition with just a little fading to its spine.

It has a white cloth cover with a tessellated red pavement design and contains contemporary murals and maps. In point of style, the Secret History is inferior to the Wars and has the air of being unfinished or at least unrevised.Īn interesting Folio Society book this edition follows the translation by G.A Williamson from 1966 and is introduced by the British biographer and historian, Philip Ziegler CVO FRSL. Owing to the ferocity of the attacks upon Justinian, the authenticity of the Secret History was questioned, but Procopius’s authorship is now generally recognised. It is a vehement invective against these sovereigns and on other noted officials. Justinian, the great law-giver, appears as a hateful tyrant, wedded to an ex-prostitute, Theodora and Belisarius, the brilliant general whose secretary Procopius had been, is seen as the pliable dupe of his wife Antonina, a woman as corrupt and scheming as Theodora herself. Having dutifully written the official war history of Justinian's reign, Procopius revealed in The Secret History the other faces of the leading men and women of Byzantium in the sixth century. It covers roughly the same years as the first seven books of the History of Justinian’s Wars and appears to have been written after they were published, purporting to be a supplement containing explanations and additions that the author could not insert into the latter work for fear of Justinian and Theodora. The Secret History was discovered centuries later in the Vatican Library and published by Niccolo Alamanni in 1623. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars (or Histories), the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated (and infamous) Secret History. Procopius of Caesarea (c.500 CE-c.554 CE) was a prominent late antique scholar.

Procopius of caesarea the secret history