The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (ca. 500-ca. 565), the last of the great classical Greek historians, was an eyewitness to, and prime reporter of, events in the reign of Emperor Justinian I.

Born in Palestinian Caesarea between 490 and 507, Procopius was thoroughly educated and probably trained in law. In 527 he was made advisor and secretary to the young general Belisarius, then imperial commander in Mesopotamia against the Persians. In this capacity Procopius accompanied Belisarius on many of his campaigns, witnessing not only the Persian hostilities but also the suppression of the Nika Riots (532), the conquest of the Vandal kingdom of North Africa (533-534), and--after a term of service in North Africa (534-536)--the first war against the Ostrogoths in Italy (535-540). Procopius was in Constantinople in 542, where he observed the beginnings of the terrible plague that struck the empire. Presumably, Procopius did not join Belisarius on his second Italian...