num_pages: 205
description: 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.
language: English
title: The Secret History
titlecomplete: The Secret History
characters: Justinian I (Byzantine emperor)
genres: Biography, Medieval, Classics, History, Ancient, Politics, Historical, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Medieval History
ratings_count: 2944
places: Byzantine Empire
publisher: Penguin