History of the Wars, Books V and VI: The Gothic War

by Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea (c. 500-c. 565) was a prominent Eastern Roman scholar of the family Procopius. He is commonly held to be the last major ancient historian. The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the Roman emperor Justinian. He was the author of a history in eight books of the wars fought by Justinian I, a panegyric on Justinian's public works throughout the empire, and a book known as The Secret History of the Court of Justinian that claims to report the scandals that Procopius could not include in his published history. Although it is not as famous as The Secret History of the Court of Justinian, Procopius' History of the Wars is clearly his most important work. The first seven books, which were published as a unit, seem to have been largely completed by 545, but were updated to mid-century before publication, for the latest event mentioned belongs to early 551. Later, Procopius added an eighth book which brings the history to 552/553, when a Roman army led by the eunuch Narses finally destroyed the Ostrogothic kingdom.

Genres: History

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 551

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

[Christian Oliverio]

Note: This is for all 6 books (or three volumes) of Procopius' History of the Wars.

This is my first non-Biblical primary source from antiquity and I must say, it was very entertaining, especially the further you go into the collection. Like many ancient sources, this is non-linear, which actually lead to an interesting structure of time-jumping and working our way to the center, almost like a backwards inclusio. We start with the Persians, who are both the beginning and end chronologically. Then go to the Vandals, who are between the Persian campaigns, but are interrupted by Belisarius waging war on the Goths in Italy (our last volume). Essentially the chronology of the books is 1-3-5-6-4-2, which was really interesting thematically. We see the result of Belisarius's victories, then work our way backwards to how he got his notoriety culminating in the 1st Siege of Rome, which was very fun.

Needless to say, Belisarius and his epic reputation are what lead me to reading this and he might be one of my new favorite historical figures. Since Procopius personally knew him, we are given a detailed portrait of a great man. We get to see how he reacts to a war he didn't want to wage, how he handles adversity, how he leads in times of both prosperity and adversity. Above all, we see a man devoted to both God and Emperor and wrestling with the conflicting orders he receives from his conscience and his emperor.

Similarly, Procopius himself is a character, even directly mentioning how he participating in the campaigns. However, most of his personality comes out in his recounting of events. He is sometimes very overt in his disdain for people, such as the cheapskate John with plenty of antidotal stories. Other times he is more subtle in his criticisms, such as his hatred for both Justinian and Theodora. Despite being highly opinionated about the people he knew, Procopius does a great job devoting himself to accuracy, even saying he intentionally omitted events as there are so many conflicting stories, he cannot say definitively what happened. He also will explicitly say a story is mythical, but as it is the only information he had, he will recount it.

Now for the main books!

Books 1 and 2: The Persian Wars were grand and political. We see rivalry of Rome and Persia in full display across multiple centuries before slowing down with more detailed recounts of the last few generations. There are many names and figures and plenty of side-tangents to explain greater context. Interestingly enough, most of the details were about Persia from their POV. This was fun seeing the cutthroat nature of the Persian court on display. Plus we get the infamous Nika Riots recounted here.

Books 3 and 4: The Vandalic Wars--or lovingly called (by me) the North African Campaign, 1st ed.--is a more detailed war account with Belisarius and Gelimer waging war against each other. There are a lot of battles and epic speeches that get you into the mindset of both sides. This section read like a novel and I would certainly love to see it as a miniseries.

Finally, books 5 and 6: The Gothic Wars: Pt 1 concludes this translation with Belisarius's side-quest to Italy to avenge a princess (I kid you not!). The standout of this section is a very detailed account of the first Siege of Rome, taking up half of the section. This was an epic battle and I am very thankful a map was included. It also helps having visited Rome to visualize the intensity of the siege. If the Vandalic Wars would make a great miniseries, the Gothic Wars would make an excellent movie.

Unfortunately, the final two volumes, which conclude the Gothic Wars and bring everything together into a fun chronological chiasm, were not in this translation. Oh, the pain of reading niche primary sources as a hobby!

In short, if you love ancient history and want to learn more about the Eastern Empire at its height, this is well worth the read.