Research Catalog

Title

Procopius of Caesarea : tyranny, history, and philosophy at the end of antiquity / Anthony Kaldellis.

Author

Kaldellis, Anthony.

Publication

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2004], ©2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

viii, 305 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"Justinian governed the Roman empire for more than thirty-eight years, and the events of his reign were recorded by Procopius of Caesarea, secretary of the general Belisarius. Yet, significantly, Procopius composed a history, a panegyric, as well as a satire of his own times. Anthony Kaldellis here offers a new interpretation of these writings of Procopius, situating him as a major source for the sixth century and one of the great historians of antiquity and Byzantium." "Procopius of Caesarea has wide implications for the way we should read ancient historians. Its conclusions also suggest that the world of Justinian was far from monolithically Christian. Major writers of that time believed that classical texts were still the best guides for understanding history, even in the rapidly changing world of late antiquity."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

Procopius

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-298) and index.

Contents

1. Classicism and Its Discontents -- 2. Tales Not Unworthy of Trust: Anecdotes and the Persian War -- 3. The Secret History of Philosophy -- 4. The Representation of Tyranny -- 5. God and Tyche in the Wars -- App. 1. Secret History 19-30 and the Edicts of Justinian -- App. 2. The Plan of Secret History 6-18.

ISBN

0812237870 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

2003070518

OCLC

• ocm53967091
• SCSB-14298349

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries