Declare Books Concering The Secret History
| Original Title: | Anekdota |
| ISBN: | 0140441824 (ISBN13: 9780140441826) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Byzantine Empire |
Procopius
Paperback | Pages: 208 pages Rating: 3.86 | 2318 Users | 168 Reviews
Details Of Books The Secret History
| Title | : | The Secret History |
| Author | : | Procopius |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 208 pages |
| Published | : | March 25th 1982 by Penguin Classics (first published 550) |
| Categories | : | History. Classics. Nonfiction. Historical. Medieval. Literature. Ancient. Biography |
Narrative In Favor Of Books The Secret History
Having dutifully written the official war history of Justinian's reign, Procopius turned round and revealed in The Secret History the other faces of the leading men and women of Byzantium in the sixth century. Justinian, the great law-giver, appears as a hateful tyrant, wedded to an ex-prostitute, Theodora; and Belisarius, the brilliant general whose secretary Procopius had been, is seen as the pliable dupe of his wife Antonina, a woman as corrupt and scheming as Theodora herself.Rating Of Books The Secret History
Ratings: 3.86 From 2318 Users | 168 ReviewsEvaluation Of Books The Secret History
Apparently, one of the political factions in Constantinople wore haircuts that sound exactly like mullets (he says it was cut short at the temples and grew long in the back or something like that). Procopius did not approve.This was one of the primary sources for my thesis and I am a wee bit biased. Results may vary! You probably won't give it 5 stars, but it is a surprisingly sultry book full of juicy, controversial, potentially false, certainly embellished, but historically fascinating gossip! A must read for any aspiring Byzantinist or amateur Byzantium fan such as myself.
This is probably the racist, most scurrilous history book ever written!
Ive never yet been to Istanbul formerly Constantinople and before that Byzantium but I have been to Ravenna on Italys east coast. Here the visitor can glimpse some of the glory that was Byzantium of old in the form of the magnificent mosaics, located in various surviving structures such as the Arian Baptistry, the Basilica of SantApollinare Nuovo and the Basilica of San Vitale. Amidst splendid religious mosaics of Christs baptism and the Adoration of the Magi are more secular images, in
I think it had the potential to be interesting insight into the reign of Justinian, but instead feels more like a rant by a man who clearly built up a lot of hatred towards Justinian and many others around him. I understand he was trying to show that Justinian wasn't all that great, but instead of providing a moderate and truthful account, this book goes too much in the other direction. However, it is nice to read something from the source's mouth, and it does give an interesting new dimension
I've no idea how much of this history is true, and how much of it is polemic, but it is quite a guilty pleasure seeing some of the most revered historical figures, Justinian and Theodora, brought down to size and dragged through the mud. Some of the charges are so perfectly scandalous to a 6th century mindset, particularly those relating to Theodora's early life, that I'm certain a great amount of the narrative is nothing more than inflammatory bluster. It's hard to tell how much. Certainly the
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.