Procopius

For nearly a thousand years after her death, she was looked upon as an ordinary, if unusually able, Byzantine princess, wife of Justinian the Lawgiver, who was one of the ablest of the later Roman emperors.

But in 1623, the manuscript was discovered in the Vatican of a secret history purporting to have been written by Procopius, which threw a new and amazing light on her career.

Procopius, or whoever wrote this most scurrilous history, states that the great empress in early youth was an actress, daughter of a bear keeper, and that she had sold tickets in the theater.

Her youth had been disgustingly profligate.

He narrates a series of stories concerning her, which cannot be printed in modern English.

One would have thought that a convenient bow spring or sack in the Bosphorus would have been the more usual course.

So far, we have nothing to go by but the statements of one man, the greatest historian of his time, to be sure, if we can be certain that he wrote the book.

Von Ranke, himself a very great critical historian, says flatly that Procopius never wrote it, that it is simply a collection of dirty stories current about other women long afterwards.

Without their aid, his task would have been very heavy, and with it, the difficulty was removed.

The author does not claim to have grappled with all the chroniclers of the Eastern realm, but thinks that some acquaintance with Ammianus, Procopius, Maurice's Strategicon, Leo the Deacon, Leo the Wise, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Anna Comnena, and Nicetas may justify his having undertaken the task he has essayed.

Oxford, February 1892.

End of preface.

His own mother used every effort to turn him from his purpose, and his uncle the emperor threatened to disinherit him, but he was quietly persistent, and ere the aged Justinus died he had been induced to acknowledge the marriage of his nephew, and to confer on Theodora the title of Patrician.

Theodora, as even her enemies allow, was the most beautiful woman of her age.

Procopius, the best historian of the day, says, quote, that it was impossible for mere man to describe her comeliness in words, or imitate it in art, unquote.

All that her detractors could say was that she was below the middle height, and that her complexion was rather pale, though not unhealthy.

For nearly a thousand years after her death, she was looked upon as an ordinary, if unusually able, Byzantine princess, wife of Justinian the Lawgiver, who was one of the ablest of the later Roman emperors.

But in 1623, the manuscript was discovered in the Vatican of a secret history purporting to have been written by Procopius, which threw a new and amazing light on her career.

Procopius, or whoever wrote this most scurrilous history, states that the great empress in early youth was an actress, daughter of a bear keeper, and that she had sold tickets in the theater.

Her youth had been disgustingly profligate.

He narrates a series of stories concerning her, which cannot be printed in modern English.

One would have thought that a convenient bow spring or sack in the Bosphorus would have been the more usual course.

So far, we have nothing to go by but the statements of one man, the greatest historian of his time, to be sure, if we can be certain that he wrote the book.

Von Ranke, himself a very great critical historian, says flatly that Procopius never wrote it, that it is simply a collection of dirty stories current about other women long afterwards.

Because when the world stops making sense, when the sun itself betrays you, you need to record what's happening, maybe as a warning, maybe as a plea to the gods, maybe just because the human mind demands explanation, even when none exists.

the first voice we hear comes from the byzantine empire constantinople the greatest city in the world at that time home to maybe half a million people centre of trade and learning the bridge between east and west and there in the palace a lawyer named procopius is serving as adviser to the general belisarius Procopius is writing his Wars of Justinian, a detailed history of the emperor's military campaigns.

He's a careful observer, not prone to exaggeration or supernatural explanations, which makes what he writes next even more chilling.

During this year, Procopius records, a most dread portent took place, for the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon during this whole year, and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear nor such as it is accustomed to shed.

Read that again.

The sun gave forth its light without brightness.

not an eclipse which procopius knew about and could identify this was something else something that lasted not hours or days but the entire year he continues and from the time when this thing happened men were free neither from war nor pestilence nor any other thing leading to death now procopius was there he watched this unfold day by day imagine his perspective you wake up morning after morning and the sun is wrong not gone not darkened completely but dimmed like looking at it through smoke except there's no fire like permanent twilight except it's supposed to be noon day after day week after week month after month and the sun refuses to give its full light the psychological impact would have been devastating humans are hard-wired to respond to sunlight it regulates our sleep cycles our moods our entire sense of order in the world take that away and reality itself becomes uncertain if the sun can fail what else might betray you But Procopius wasn't alone in witnessing this phenomenon.

All across the world people were looking up at the same terrifying sky and trying to make sense of what they were seeing.

For nearly a thousand years after her death, she was looked upon as an ordinary, if unusually able, Byzantine princess, wife of Justinian the Lawgiver, who was one of the ablest of the later Roman emperors.

But in 1623, the manuscript was discovered in the Vatican of a secret history purporting to have been written by Procopius, which threw a new and amazing light on her career.

Procopius, or whoever wrote this most scurrilous history, states that the great empress in early youth was an actress, daughter of a bear keeper, and that she had sold tickets in the theater.

Her youth had been disgustingly profligate.

He narrates a series of stories concerning her which cannot be printed in modern English.

One would have thought that a convenient bow spring or sack in the Bosphorus would have been the more usual course.

So far we have nothing to go by but the statements of one man, the greatest historian of his time to be sure, if we can be certain that he wrote the book.

Von Ranke himself, a very great critical historian, says flatly that Procopius never wrote it.

as was done by moses and by those tribes who overran the roman empire for the new names which we find in italy and elsewhere have no other origin than in their having been given by these new occupants as when the countries formerly known as gallia cisalpina and gallia transalpina took the names of lombardy and france from the lombards and the franks who settled themselves there In the same way, Slavonia was formerly known as Illyria, Hungary as Pannonia, and England as Britain, while many other provinces which it would be tedious to enumerate have similarly changed their designations, as when the name Judea was given by Moses to that part of Syria of which he took possession.

and since i have said above that nations such as those i have been describing are often driven by wars from their ancestral homes and forced to seek a new country elsewhere i shall cite the instance of the maurusians a people who anciently dwelt in syria but hearing of the inroad of the hebrews and thinking themselves unable to resist them chose rather to seek safety in flight than to perish with their country in a vain effort to defend it for which reason removing with their families they went to africa where after driving out the native inhabitants they took up their abode and although they could not defend their own country were able to possess themselves of a country belonging to others And Procopius, who writes the history of the war which Belisarius conducted against those vandals who seized on Africa, relates that on certain pillars, standing in places where the Morusians once dwelt, he has read inscriptions in these words, We Morusians who fled before Joshua the robber, the son of Nun, giving us to know the cause of their quitting Syria.

be this as it may nations thus driven forth by a supreme necessity are if they be in great number in the highest degree dangerous and cannot be successfully withstood except by a people who excel in arms When those constrained to abandon their homes are not in large numbers, they are not so dangerous as the nations of whom I have been speaking, since they cannot use the same violence, but must trust to their address to procure them habitation, and after procuring it, must live with their neighbors as friends and companions, as we find Aeneas, Dido, the Massilians, and others like them to have lived.

all of whom contrived to maintain themselves in the districts in which they settled by securing the goodwill of the neighbouring nations.

Even the label for the whole episode, the coming of the Saxons, was a phrase that later medieval chroniclers fastened onto rather than anything the first witnesses used.

We do get one outside voice who weighed in on the Anglo-Saxon migration, an Eastern Roman historian known as Procopius of Caesarea.

He was a historian working in the Eastern Mediterranean in the mid-6th century, who mentioned, almost in passing, that after the Romans lost their grip on Britain around 411, demographics changed.

He correctly notes they never got it back, and that the island was now home to Saxons, Angles, Frisians, and Britons living side by side.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil" Ephesians 4:26-27.

According to some historical books, such as The History of the Wars by Procopius of Caesarea, anger was the cause of cruelty and barbarity of many leaders and conquerors who spread terror and death wherever they went, like Attila the Hun, king of the Huns, and Ares, the god of war in Greek mythology.

The king of this circle is Phlegyas, son of Ares and king of the Lapiths, who set fire to Apollo's temple in revenge and who represents the anger and lack of control of the wrathful.

The sixth circle of Hell is that of heresy, where those who denied or distorted the truths of the Christian faith are punished, following false doctrines or those contrary to divine revelation.