History of the Wars, Volume III by Procopius

He is just to the empire’s enemies and boldly criticises emperor Justinian. He was a diligent, careful, judicious narrator of facts and developments and shows good powers of description. The whole consists largely of military history, with much information about peoples and places as well, and about special events.

Procopius’s History of the Wars in 8 books (here collected in five volumes) recounts the Persian Wars of emperors Justinus and Justinian down to 550 (2 books) the Vandalic War and after-events in Africa 532–546 (2 books) the Gothic War against the Ostrogoths in Sicily and Italy 536–552 (3 books) and a sketch of events to 554 (1 book). He may have been that Procopius who was prefect of Constantinople in 562, but the date of his death (after 558) is unknown. Sometime after 540 he returned to Constantinople.

In 527 CE he was made legal adviser and secretary of Belisarius, commander against the Persians, and went with Belisarius again in 533 against the Vandals and in 535 against the Ostrogoths. Procopius, born at Caesarea in Palestine late in the 5th century, became a lawyer. 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.The digital Loeb Classical Library extends the founding mission of James Loeb with an interconnected, fully searchable, perpetually growing virtual library of all that is important in Greek and Latin literature. 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.

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. 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. The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the Roman emperor Justinian. He is commonly held to be the last major ancient historian. 565) was a prominent Eastern Roman scholar of the family Procopius.

History of the Wars, Volume III by Procopius