d. 565?

Byzantine historian, born in what is now Israel, whose writing is one of the principal sources on the era of Justinian (r. 527-565). Procopius served as advisor to Justinian's brilliant general Belisarius (c. 500-565) in military campaigns from 527 to 540 against the Persians in what is now Iran; the Goths in Italy; and the Vandals in Spain and North Africa. He chronicled these events in Procopius's History of Our Time, and also wrote On Buildings, a six-volume work concerning structures erected under the reign of Justinian. Behind the scenes, however, Procopius was writing what came to be known as the Secret History, in which he portrayed Justinian and the empress Theodora (c. 500-548) as literal fiends in human form, while Belisarius appeared as a cuckold and a fool.