Procopius secret history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Procopius secret history - Essay Example He was also on the Gothic campaign, in Italy, until 540. He finally lived in Constantinople after describing the immense plague of 542 in the capital. This paper will analyze the source and determine the author’s reliability (Arbor 1). The contemporary history reader should characteristically depend on the investigation of similar contemporary historians. Contemporary historians can access a large number of sources and frequently aim to give an impartial notion of the past life. Nonetheless, past historians did not appreciate objectivity in creating their stories on what would have been for contemporary figures and events (Arbor 1). There should be a balanced method to history and occurrences of the past life. Moreover, Procopius was the best placed historian to give information on the existence of Belisarius, Theodora, and Justinian of the eastern Roman Empire. This is because he published eight works on one of the most popular emperors, Justinian. He not only sets aside panegyrics, in the Secret History, but Procopius looks keenly into the revolt he experienced at his mighty empress and emperor (Arbor 1). Procopius illustrates the cruelty and greed of his emperor, in addition to the lasciviousness and malice of Theodora, his wife. The Secret History is under-supported and overstated, despite being an interesting resource. Early writers did not have the will to cite their resources. One cannot simply presume that because the author, Procopius, was Justinian’s contemporary, he was a witness of everything he documents. This raises a lot of concern on his reliability. Readers cannot ascertain what composition of his work is hearsay, or if it is rumor found in rumor, and the component of the resource that can be advanced. Nevertheless, the resource depicts both Justinian and Theodora as largely suspicious individuals (Arbor 1). Also, when Procopius asserts that Justinian was the most terrible ruler of all time, we are not sure how much