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

A Study of Procopius

Michael Stewart (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

246 Seiten

2025
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-041-18253-5 (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	20.11.2025
Reihe/Serie	Social Worlds of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	460 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
ISBN-10	1-041-18253-8 / 1041182538
ISBN-13	978-1-041-18253-5 / 9781041182535
Zustand	Neuware