![]() ![]() His work was both dangerous to him, and a reassurance should he be caught. He viciously attacks the major players of his time and did so under threat to his life. When he wrote the Secret History, he knew what he wrote was slanderous. It was an eight-book series covering the Persian Wars, the Justinian plague and Procopius early relationship with Belisarius, The Vandal Wars and The Gothic Wars (which will lead to a falling out of Procopius with Belisarius). ![]() When he wrote the Secret History, he assumed that the reader had knowledge of his earlier work, History of the Wars. He saw conflicts against a variety of enemies (Ostrogoths, Vandals), internal conflicts (the mutiny of Carthage, the Nika riots), the Justinian plague and strange weather events. As a Christian writing in a world that included both Christian and Pagan beliefs, he would often employ explanations for then new concepts, such as monks and churches. Procopius was a trained lawyer, and his job was to advise Belisarius in legal matters. To understand Procopius’s writing, one must understand his world: he accompanied Belisarius, a Byzantine general in the emperor Justinian’s army to the major wars of the same. He is the principal Byzantine historian of the 6th century. Procopius of Caesarea was an Orthodox-Christian Greek from late antiquity. ![]() ![]() I’m writing this prequel to The Secret History summary to introduce who Procopius is and who he is writing about, to make the summary that will follow easier to understand. ![]()
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