The Secret History

by

Procopius of Caesarea

translated by Richard Atwater

(Chicago: P. Covici, 1927 New York Covici Friede 1927)

Reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961, with indication
that copyright had expired on the text of the translation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editions

  • Alemannus, editio princeps, (Lyons: 1623) [with omission of one section
    thought to be indecent.]
  • Maltretus, (Paris: 1663) [with omissions].
  • Comparetti, (Rome: 1898)
  • Procopius, Opera Omnia, 3. Vols., (Leipzig: 1905-13), ed. J. Haury, rev.
    G. Wirth, 4 Vols., (Teubner Series), (Leipzig, 1962-64). Now the standard edition.
    Vol 3 of the Haury-Wirth version contains the Secret History
  • Procopius: The Anecdota of Secret History, translated by H.B. Dewing, (Cambridge:
    Harvard University Press, 1935), Vol VI of the seven volume Loeb translation,
    which includes the Buildings and the Wars in parallel Greek and English texts.
    Greek text based on Haury.

Translations

  • Procopius: Secret History, translated by Richard Atwater, (New York: Covici
    Friede; Chicago: P. Covicii, 1927), reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of
    Michigan Press, 1961, – the version available here.
  • Procopius: The Anecdota of Secret History, translated by H.B. Dewing, (Cambridge:
    Harvard University Press, 1935), Vol VI of the seven volume Loeb translation,
    which includes the Buildings and the Wars.
  • Cameron, Averil, Procopius: History of the Wars, Secret History, and Buildings,
    translated, edited and abridged, (New York: 1967)
  • Procopius: Secret History, translated by G.A. Williamson, (New York: Penguin,
    1966) – this is the most easily available print version.

Secondary Literature: Procopius

  • Beck, Hans Georg, Kaiserin Theodora und Prokop : der Historiker und sein
    Opfer, (Munich: Piper, c1986)
  • Evans, James A.S., Procopius, (New York: Twayne, 1972)
  • Cameron, Averil, “The `Scepticism’ of Procopius”, Historia 15 (1966)
  • Cameron, Averil, Procopius and the Sixth Century, (Berkeley : University
    of California Press, c1985) – probably the best place to start.
  • Downey, Granville, “Paganism and Christianity in Procopius”, Church History
    18 (1949)
  • Gordon, C.D., “Procopius and Justinian’s Financial Policies”, Phoenix 13
    (1959)
  • Rubin, Berthold., Prokopio von Kaisareia, (Stuttgart, Druckenmuller 1954)
  • Rubin, Berthold, “Prokopios” in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopaedie 23.1,
    (Stuttgart:, 1957), cols. 273-599

Secondary Literature: Theodora

  • Browning, Robert, Justinian and Theodora, 2nd ed., (London: 1971, 198?)
  • Diehl, Charles, Thdora, impatrice de Byzance, 3rd. ed (Paris: 1904,
    repr. 1937)
  • Diehl, Charles, Byzantine Empresses, trans. Harold Bell and Theresa de Kepely,
    (New York: Alfred A, Knopf, 1963)
  • Grimbert, E., Theodora: Die Tanzerin auf dem Kaiserthron, (Munich: 1928)
  • Holmes, W.G., The Age of Justinian and Theodora, 2 vols. (London: 1912)
  • Kraus, R. Theodora. The Circus Empress, (New York: 1938)
  • McCabe, Joseph. Empresses of Constantinople, (London: Methuen, 1913; Boston:
    n.d.)
  • Schubart, W., Justinian und Theodora, (Munich: 1943)
  • Stadelmann, H., Theodora von Byzanz, 2 vols., (Dresden: 1926)
  • Vandercook, John W., Empress of the Dusk: A Life of Theodora of Byzantium,
    (New York: 1940)

Fictional Literature

  • Bradshaw, Gillian, The Bearkeeper’s Daughter, (Houghton Mifflin Company,
    1987). Justinian and Theodora in the later years of her life from the perspective
    of Theodora’s illegitimate son who is passed off as her nephew.
  • Dixon, Pierson, Sir, The glittering horn: secret memoirs of the Court of
    Justinian, (London, J. Cape, 1958)
  • Fischer-Pap, Lucia, Eva, Theodora : Evita Peron, Empress Theodora reincarnated,
    (Rockford, Ill. : LFP Publications, c1982)
  • Gerson, Noel Bertram, 1914-, Theodora, a novel, (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
    Prentice-Hall, 1969)
  • Graves, Robert, Count Belasarius, (New York : Literary Guild, 1938; London:
    Cassell, 1938) Graves narrates the life of perhaps the most glamorous Byzantine
    general. Given Graves gripping view of the early Empire in I, Claudius and Claudius
    the God, the availability of Procopius as a source, and the dramatic events
    and personalities of Belasarius’s career, it is hard to see how Graves could
    have failed. Most readers though seem to find the novel pedestrian and, frankly,
    boring.
  • Hubbard, Elbert, and Alice Hubbard, Justinian and Theodora, a drama; being
    a chapter of history and the one gleam of light during the dark ages, (East
    Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycrofters, c1906)
  • Kraus, Rene, 1902-1947, Theodora, the Circus Empress, translated from the
    German by June Head. 1st ed. Garden City : Doubleday, Doran, 1938)
  • Lamb, Harold, 1892-1962, Theodora and the Emperor; the drama of Justinian,
    1st ed., (Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday 1952)
  • Letraz, Jean de, 1897-, Moumou ; L’extravagante Theodora ; Une nuit chez
    vous ; Madame!, (Paris : Nagel, c1949)
  • Masefield, John, 1878-1967, Basilissa, a tale of the Empress Theodora, (London,
    Heinemann 1940; New York, Macmillan, 1940)
  • Phillips, Watts, 1825-1874, Theodora, actress and empress : an original
    historical drama, in five acts, (London : T.H.Lacy, 1850?)
  • Rachet, Guy, Theodora : Roman (Paris : Olivier Orban, c1984)
  • Sardou, Victorien, 1831-1908, Theodora. Drama in funf aufzugen und acht
    bildern, Deutsch von Hermann von Lohner … (Leipzig, P. Reclam jun. [n.d.])
  • Sardou, Victorien, 1831-1908., Theodora, drame en cinq actes et sept tableaux
    …, (Paris, Impr. de l’Illustration, c1907)
  • Underhill, Clara., Theodora, the courtesan of Constantinople, (New York,
    Sears, c1932)
  • White, Eliza Orne, 1856-1947, The Coming of Theodora [a novel], (Boston,
    New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895)