Masculinity, Identity, and Power Politics in the Age of Justinian: A Study of Procopius

1. This will be first monograph to offer an in-depth analysis of Procopius's gendered discourse in the Wars and the Secret History. By amalgamating gendered and intertextual approaches, this book will provide insights into many of the current debates surrounding Procopius' literary influences and aims, his attitudes towards non-Romans, soldier-eunuchs, Belisarius, Justinian and the 'reconquests', and sixth-century constructions of gender more generally. 2. The study offers a revisionist approach to Procopius's primary goals for writing the Wars. Offering a literary approach not found in other studies on Procopius, it will suggest, that while he could be critical of Justinian and lament the messy process of the reconquest, he largely supported the emperor's military and political aims in Persia, North Africa and Italy. 3. This book will argue that Procopius drew on a combination of classical and Christian Byzantine sources for his rhetoric. Although this study sees less 'hidden' and/or subversive messages from Procopius than the recent work by scholars like Kaldellis, Kruse, and Pazdernik, it will show that even when one sticks closer to the text's surface, the Wars 'meaning' and 'purpose' is complex and more sophisticated than some scholars believe. Procopius does not employ rhetoric hapahazardly. On the contrary, this study shows that gendered rhetoric offered Procopius the means to elucidate his knotty authorial and narrative agendas.