Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.
To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser.
2017, Journal of Late Antiquity
Procopius's Secret History has attracted the attention of a generation of social historians. Yet, the significant, albeit subtler ways, in which gender colors Procopius’s most significant work, the Wars, has received far less notice. Seeking to address this imbalance, the present study examines how gender shapes Procopius’s presentation of the Goths, East Romans, and Italo-Romans in his Wars. Rather than uncovering the Goths, East Romans, and Italians “as they really were,” this paper seeks to unearth some of the purpose and reasoning behind Procopius’s gendered depictions and ethnicizing worldview. A careful investigation of Procopius’s discussions about the manly and unmanly provides crucial insights into not just the larger narrative but also the historian’s knotty authorial agenda. Despite the Gothic War’s reliance on classical ethnic and gender patterns, Procopius did not compose his history in a vacuum. Indeed, the gendered discourse, which undergirds much of the Wars, must be understood within the broader context of the political debates reverberating around the late antique Mediterranean at a time when control of Italy from Constantinople was contested.
Amsterdam University Press
Masculinity, Identity, and the Rhetoric of Power Politics in the Age of Justinian: A Study of Procopius (Amsterdam University Press, 1 June 2020)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, 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.
Parekbolai 4 (2014): 21-54
'Contests of Andreia in Procopius' Gothic Wars,' Παρεκβολαι 4 (2014): pp. 21-542014 •
Much of the recent work on gender constructions in the writings of the sixth-century Byzantine writer Procopius have focused on his Secret History. Yet, the crucial role that gender constructions play in his other writings has garnered far less notice. This essay concentrates on one theater of war, Italy, and examines how in the Gothic Wars Procopius used the field of battle as a means to comment on the role that courage and manliness played in determining the outcome of the war. The conflict, in Procopius’ telling, offered the Byzantines the opportunity not only to regain Italy, but also to test their military and manly virtues against a worthy enemy, the Goths. ""
This paper analyses the use of the stereotypical concepts of Romanness and barbarity in Pacatus’ Panegyrici Latini 2(12), delivered in 389 AD. The Gallic panegyrist had to address the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius’ employment of Gothic troops against his Roman adversary, Magnus Maximus, who was stationed in the Western Empire, which could have been grounds for the Western elite to question his legitimacy. This speech is an early example of the deteriorating dichotomy between Romans and non-Romans, a trend which would continue in the fifth century. The speech provides us with a singular Roman perspective on the changing ethnic composition and hierarchy within the Empire. By analysing Pacatus’ descriptions of the Goths, it becomes clear that they are ascribed more positive, almost Roman traits, while at the same time still corresponding to the prevailing barbarian stereotype to some degree. Moreover, by simultaneously suggesting that Maximus’ soldiers have lost their Roman identity, Pacatus problematises the distinctions between Romans and non-Romans, Goths and barbarians, and consequently the idea of civil war itself, even further.
"In 540, after several years of warfare between the Emperor Justinian’s invading eastern Roman forces and those of the Ostrogoths defending Italy, the re-conquering commander, Belisarius, was offered the opportunity of an odd alliance during his siege of the Ostrogothic capital, Ravenna. The proposal was for the Ostrogothic king, Witigis, to surrender Ravenna and abdicate and for the enemy general, Belisarius, to accept the crown of the Ostrogoths. This paper will explore the origins of this proposed odd alliance between two enemy leaders of armies at war. It will discuss the reasons that lay behind the proposed alliance, the consequences of it and the extent of its significance. The methodological approach to explore this odd alliance will consist of an analysis of the primary and secondary textual sources."
This thesis examines the sixth-century CE Byzantine historian Procopius’ notion of men’s heroic conduct. It argues that, despite Procopius’ reputation as the last great Classical historian, he created heroes that were firmly rooted in the sixth-century CE Christian Byzantine world. Procopius’ writing reveals that sixth-century Eastern Roman society was abandoning Classical constructions of heroism based on an individual’s worldly achievements and military prowess and adopting Christian notions of courage dependant on piety, humility, and divine intervention. In order to understand the innovative aspects of the new Christian heroic ideal as Procopius presented it, the thesis traces the origins and development of both Classical and Christian notions of valor. It focuses on Greek writers from the heroic age of Homer, to the sixth-century CE ecclesiastical and pagan historians. It then examines the similar and different ways these writers defined ideal and non-ideal men. The thesis explores how the new Christian heroic ideal influenced Procopius’ description of foreign peoples. It suggests that Procopius’ descriptions of “barbarians” represented a new Christian vision of ethnicity. People were no longer described as Romans and barbarians, but increasingly, were designated as Christians and pagans. The thesis concludes by comparing and contrasting Procopius’ descriptions of holy men and secular men. It asserts that understanding the new heroic ideal helps explain why secular warrior-heroes like Belisarius and Totila, so familiar from Classical literature, gradually disappeared from literature in the ensuing centuries and were replaced by these “holy heroes of Christ.” """""""
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance
Afterword, Gender in Early Modern Rome2014 •
Journal of Late Antiquity
Man to Man: Desire, Homosociality, and Authority in Late-Roman Manhood by Mark Masterson2015 •
2021 •
"'A Pageant of Mars No Less Than of Venus': The Roman Feminization of the Barbarian, From Tacitus to Bede"
"'A Pageant of Mars No Less Than of Venus': The Roman Feminization of the Barbarian, From Tacitus to Bede"2009 •
THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK ON IDENTITY IN BYZANTIUM
Reading Greco-Roman Gender Ideals in Byzantium: Classical Heroes and Eastern Roman Gender2022 •
2020 •
2017 •
Scandinavian Journal of Bzyantine and Modern Greek Studies
The Better Story for Romans and Byzantinists?, Scandinavian Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 6 (2020), 185-210.2020 •
2014 •
2015 •
Reinventing Procopius: New Readings on Late Antique Historiography, eds. C. Lillington-Martin and E. Turqois (Palgrave, Aldershot)
Roman or Barbarian? Political loyalties and ethnic identities in the Balkans according to Procopius2018 •
2013 •
TRAC 09. Proceedings of the nineteenth annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference.
Beyond the warlike Samnites. Rethinking grave goods, gender relations and social practice in ancient Samnium (Italy)2010 •
2022 •
Journal of Roman Studies
L. REVELL, WAYS OF BEING ROMAN. DISCOURSES OF IDENTITY IN THE ROMAN WEST. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2016. Pp. x + 175, illus. isbn9781842172926. £29.952018 •
Exploring Gender Diversity in the Ancient World (edited by Allison Surtees and Jennifer Dyer, Edinburgh University Press)
Ruling in Purple...and Wearing Make-up: Gendered Adventures of Emperor Elagabalus as seen by Cassius Dio and Herodian2020 •
Hiperboreea Journal
Procopius of Caesareea’s “History of Wars” and the Expression of Emotions in Early Byzantium2018 •
E-Journal Undergraduate Research E-journal!, [S.l.]
Roman or Barbarian? Ethnicity in Ostrogothic Italy2015 •
PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge
Roman Identity in 'Byzantium,' AD 650 - 8502016 •
2016 •