The Study Of Procopius' History Of The Wars

Procopius(490/507—560/561?), the greatest historian in the Justinian Age(527-565)of Byzantine Empire, was born in Caesarea of Palestine. As a lawyer in his youth, he was appointed assessor or legal secretary of Belisarius, Justinian's capable general. He was in company with the army of Belisarius taking part in the combats of Africa, Italy and the East, and later narrated in detail all the combats he experienced in his great work---the eight volume History of the Wars. Procopius'accurately and vividly recorded a series wars of Justinian such as the Persian war, the Vandal war, the Gothic war, the Moorish war and so on. In addition, he also recounted "nika"riot and a great plague in Constantinople in 530s and 540s. It also included other all-encompassing contents such as different nations'geographical positions, environments, religious belief, customs, mythology and legends, natural phenomena, etc. Procopius carried forward the good traditions of the classic historians of Greece and Rome, such as Thucydides, Herodotus, Polybius, Tacitus and Livy, in his celebration of loyalty and patriotism, in regarding the people as foundation of nation, in taking history as mirror and in his matter-of-fact attitude. Naturally, as a transitional figure in Byzantine historiography, he also inherited some of their defects, such as his lack of scientific method to use and differentiate sources, and his political inclination also affected his work's truthfulness. The main purpose of this dissertation is, through a thorough analysis on Procopius'History of the Wars, to find the truth of history, then sum up their experiences, at last conclude Procopius'conception of history. From this train of thought, I divided this dissertation into 8 chapters. Chapter 1 is a study on Procopius, including a biographical note on him, his writing time, his writing style, and the way he worked out the plot of his History; chapter 2 "About History of the Wars"introduces the publishing times and editions of the 3 works of Procopius, the contents and sources value of this book, and the circumstances of other temporary sources; From the third chapter on, the dissertation shifts to the analysis of the History's main content. Chapter 3 the Persian war, chapter 4 the Vandal war, chapter 5 the Gothic war are all about the same issue "Wars and Peace."By analyzing every war's cause, process, I then make a conclusion of Procopius'conception of history. Chapter 6 "Natural Calamity and Human Disaster"analyzes and discusses the Plague of Constantinople in 542-543 and "Nika riot"in 532. In chapter 7 "Legend, Customs and Natural Phenomena", besides a scrutiny of Procopius'history criticism, I examine and sum up three kinds of digressions in this work. The last chapter "Military and Religion"inquires into the military organization , armies of the services, equipments, strategy and tactics, weapons of Byzantine empire. This chapter also probes into the attitude of Procopius on Christian, heresies and paganism; The epilogue is a conclusion of this dissertation, making a systematic exposition on Procopius'conception of history.