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

A Study of Procopius
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-94-6298-823-1
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 4, 246 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 408 g

Reihe: Social Worlds of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stewart, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike Byzantinische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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

Über Autor(innen)

Stewart, Michael
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).