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In Battles and Generals: Combat, Culture, and Didacticism in Procopius’ Wars, Whately reads Procopius’ descriptions of combat through the lens of didacticism, arguing that one of Procopius’ intentions was to construct those accounts not only so that they might be entertaining to his audience, but also so that they might provide real value to his readership, which was comprised, in part, of the empire’s military command. In the course of this analysis we discover that the varied battles and sieges that Procopius describes are not generic; rather, they have been crafted to reflect the nature of combat – as understood by Procopius – on the three fronts of Justinian’s wars, the frontier with Persia, Vandal north Africa, and Gothic Italy.
Price: $189.00
Pages: 278
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: History of Warfare
Publication Date:
18 December 2015
ISBN: 9789004310360
Format: Hardcover
''The book is clearly written and structured and based on detailed knowledge of classical Greek military historiography and modern literature on this literary genre. Its focus on battle description is to be commended [...] Whately does not believe that Procopius had one overriding narrative aim but that he set out to convey numerous messages.Whately is to be praised for demonstrating that the literary nature of such texts does not detract from their historicity. [...] the book should be essential reading for anyone interested in Procopius, late antiquity warfare, and the Justinianic era." - Alexander Sarantis, in: Speculum 94/4 (October 2019)
Conor Whately, Ph.D. (2009, Warwick), is an assistant professor of Classics at the University of Winnipeg. He has published widely on Roman military history and late antique historiography, including a monograph (forthcoming) on the Roman army in Moesia.