How misunderstanding Procopius has tainted scholarship on the reign of Justinian

Everyone writes as a part of the culture and the historical currents around them, no work can be produced in a vacuum. Political biases are inevitably projected onto all scholarship. Procopius was remarkable for his ability to discern how the politics and culture of his time affected his writings. despite this, Procopius is ignored when he points out his own biases in a way that is convenient for scholars but obscures the truth.

In Procopius’ most important work, The Secret History, he said himself that all of the good things he said about justinian he didn’t want to say but was being forced to by the regime. This allows him to peel back the subjective ego and view the world from an objective enlightened perspective. In this perspective, Procopius claims that Justinian is “the price of demons” and that Theodora has sex with demons, claims that are concurrently ignored by the modern scholarship but would change the way Justinian’s conquests are understood if integrated properly. If justinian is the prince of demons then constantinople is the demon. satan has corrupted the court. procopius writes for the beast.

Moreover, in The Secret History Procopius claims that the death toll of Justinian’s conquests are in the hundreds of millions. this has several implications. First, scholars must rework previous estimates of the global population in the fifth century. The true extant of the devastation of the italian campaign is likewise misunderstood. the way procopius describes it as like literal hell on earth. justinian brought this hell to earth. just as christ opened the gates to the deathless justinian opened the gates to dusty death. the beast has been unleashed. the beast lays waste. the anti christ rules the world.