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A generation of historians has been captivated by the notorious views on gender found in the mid-sixth century
Secret History by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea. Yet the notable but subtler ways in which gender coloured Procopius' most significant work, the
Wars, have received far less attention. This monograph examines how gender shaped the presentation of not only key personalities such as the seminal power-couples Theodora/ Justinian and Antonina/ Belisarius, but also the Persians, Vandals, Goths, Eastern Romans, and Italo-Romans, in both the
Wars and the
Secret History. By analysing the purpose and rationale behind Procopius' gendered depictions and ethnicizing worldview, this investigation unpicks his knotty agenda. Despite Procopius's reliance on classical antecedents, the gendered discourse that undergirds both texts under investigation must be understood within the broader context of contemporary political debates at a time when control of Italy and North Africa from Constantinople was contested.
List of contents
Acknowledgements, A Note on Translations, Sources, and Names, Preface, I Finding Procopius, 1. Introduction, 2. Will the Real Procopius Please Stand Up, Procopius' Oeuvre, Historiographical Debates, A Christian Procopius, Dates, Cistern or Safety Net?, II The Contest, 3. The Danger of the Soft Life, Rhetoric and Reality, A Soft Empire, Vita Militaris, Romans and Goths, Aeneas' Ship, 4. Courage, Fear, and Generalship in the Vandal War, Fifth-century Roman Failures, The Launch, Tricamarum, 5. Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Eunuchs in a Changing World, The Blame Game, Solomon, Narses: The Manly Eunuch, Martial Manliness, Draining Belisarius' andreia, Brave New World, III Chaos Encroaching, 6. Killing Justinian, Artabanes: Slayer of Tyrants, Theodora Steps In, The Plot, 7. Totila: Hero or Trope?, Order out of Chaos, Standing up to Totila, Last Dance, Conclusion: All Quiet on the Italian Front, Bibliography, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Index, Chronology
About the author
Michael Edward Stewart (honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland) researches issues of culture, gender, and identity in Late Antiquity. He is the author of Masculinity, Identity, and the Rhetoric of Power Politics in the Age of Justinian (Amsterdam University Press, 2020).
