Historians of Justinian I - Procopius, Agathias, John of Ephesus, John Malalas, Evagrius Scholasticus, Joannes Laurentius Lydus (Paperback)

Chapters: Procopius, Agathias, John of Ephesus, John Malalas, Evagrius Scholasticus, Joannes Laurentius Lydus. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 35. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Procopius of Caesarea (Latin: Procopius Caesarensis, Greek: c. 500 c. 565) was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History. He is commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient world. Before the source of his own writings, the main source for Procopius' life is an entry in the Suda, a 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia that tells nothing about his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in Palaestina Prima (modern Israel). He would have received a conventional lite education in the Greek classics and then rhetoric, perhaps at the famous School of Gaza, may have attended law school, possibly at Berytus (modern Beirut) or Constantinople, and became a rhetor (barrister or advocate). He evidently knew Latin, as would be natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I's reign, he became the adsessor (legal adviser) for Belisarius, Justinian's chief military commander who was then beginning a brilliant career. Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundo repressed with a massacre in the Hippodrome. In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, took part in the capture...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=23624