Masculinity, Identity, and Power Politics in the Age of Justinian

A Study of Procopius

Michael Stewart (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

246 Seiten

2020
Amsterdam University Press (Verlag)
978-94-6298-823-1 (ISBN)

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A generation of historians has been captivated by the notorious views on gender found in the mid-sixth century Secret History by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea. Yet the notable but subtler ways in which gender coloured Procopius' most significant work, the Wars, have received far less attention. This monograph examines how gender shaped the presentation of not only key personalities such as the seminal power-couples Theodora/ Justinian and Antonina/ Belisarius, but also the Persians, Vandals, Goths, Eastern Romans, and Italo-Romans, in both the Wars and the Secret History. By analysing the purpose and rationale behind Procopius' gendered depictions and ethnicizing worldview, this investigation unpicks his knotty agenda. Despite Procopius's reliance on classical antecedents, the gendered discourse that undergirds both texts under investigation must be understood within the broader context of contemporary political debates at a time when control of Italy and North Africa from Constantinople was contested.

Michael Edward Stewart (honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland) researches issues of culture, gender, and identity in Late Antiquity. He is the author of Masculinity, Identity, and the Rhetoric of Power Politics in the Age of Justinian (Amsterdam University Press, 2020).

Acknowledgements
A Note on Translations, Sources, and Names
Preface
I Finding Procopius
1. Introduction
2. Will the Real Procopius Please Stand Up
Procopius' Oeuvre
Historiographical Debates
A Christian Procopius
Dates
Cistern or Safety Net?
II The Contest
3. The Danger of the Soft Life
Rhetoric and Reality
A Soft Empire
Vita Militaris
Romans and Goths
Aeneas' Ship
4. Courage, Fear, and Generalship in the Vandal War
Fifth-century Roman Failures
The Launch
Tricamarum
5. Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Eunuchs in a Changing World
The Blame Game
Solomon
Narses: The Manly Eunuch
Martial Manliness
Draining Belisarius' andreia
Brave New World
III Chaos Encroaching
6. Killing Justinian
Artabanes: Slayer of Tyrants
Theodora Steps In
The Plot
7. Totila: Hero or Trope?
Order out of Chaos
Standing up to Totila
Last Dance
Conclusion: All Quiet on the Italian Front
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Index
Chronology

Erscheinungsdatum	10.05.2021
Reihe/Serie	Social Worlds of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Zusatzinfo	5 Illustrations, black and white
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
ISBN-10	94-6298-823-4 / 9462988234
ISBN-13	978-94-6298-823-1 / 9789462988231
Zustand	Neuware