Procopius and the Sixth Century [Paperback]

Averil Cameron (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415142946 | ISBN-13: 978-0415142946 | Publication Date: October 8, 1996 | Edition: Reprint

Originally published by Duckworth and the University of California Press, Procopius is now available for the first time in paperback. Professor Cameron emphasises the essential unity of Procopius' three works and, starting from the `minor' ones, demonstrates their intimate connection with the Wars. Procopius' writings are seen to comprise a subtle whole; only if they are understood in this way can their historical value be properly appreciated. The result is a new evaluation of Procopius which will be central to any future history of the sixth century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A grand synthesis, a rational scheme for understanding Procopius, his works, the sixth century, and late antiquity in general. Throughout, Cameron's grasp of the subject is masterfully intuitive and rates as intellectual dynamite.' - American Historical Review

'Averil Cameron has made a major contribution towards the understanding of a period that is as fascinating as it is opaque.' - Cyril Mango, Times Literary Supplement

'Professor Cameron's prose is always lucid and her procedures carefully and consistently applied.' - Jane Gardner, British Book News

'A book which will be indispensable for students of the age of Justinian, as well as those of Greco-Roman historiography, and which will surely remain so for a long time.' - Journal of Hellenic Studies

'The appearance of a paperback edition of Cameron's study at an affordable price is very welcome to students of western Europe as well as of Byzantium.' - Early Medieval Europe

About the Author

Averil Cameron is Professor of Ancient History in King's College, University of London. She is the author of The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity (1994), a volume in the Routledge History of the Ancient World Series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Reprint edition (October 8, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415142946
• ISBN-13: 978-0415142946
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,184,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Procopius orthodoxy, January 26, 2011

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This review is from: Procopius and the Sixth Century (Paperback)

Cameron's Procopius and the Sixth Century, first published in 1985, became for a long time orthodoxy on Procopius' mystifying three works.

Cameron's merit is, firstly, to have shown the importance of genre and how it must supersede the search for factual detail, and secondly to have pointed at the complementarity of the three works. Thus Cameron points at the influence and constraints of genre, especially of classical history on the Wars and of invective on the Secret History. Expatiating on the subject's sexual antics, for example, was a conventional part of classical invective. The reader was never expected to take literally Theodora's orgies, her multiple abortions, or the statement that Justinian caused the death of a hundred billion people. Buildings is likewise a formulaic work, if in the opposite sense to the Secret History. Not so much a descriptive or an exhaustive work, it must be seen as an argumentative piece aiming to extol the emperor's church and fortress-building.

At the same time, Procopius and the Sixth Century may be too ready to accept Procopius' Christianity, and too bent on making him a typical Byzantine scholar rather than the classical author he evidently wished to be read as. This has considerable implications as to how his very contradictory works are read, especially the controversial Secret History. Procopius himself wrote in his introduction to it that this was the key to his work, and Cameron's conclusions amount to denying that. This is a learned textual reading of Procopius based on the modern tools of cultural historical analysis, but it is weak on making use of the Wars' classical references. As a result, it tends to downgrade Procopius, and underplay his political message. For a more recent, and perhaps more perceptive but also controversial, analysis, see Anthony Kaldellis's Procopius of Caesarea.