Battles and Generals

Contents Prologue: The Battle of Callinicum ix Acknowledgements xii Note on Translation and Transliteration xiv Introduction 1 1 Premise 1 2 A Cultural Approach to Procopian Combat 6 3 History as Literature 8 4 Rhetoric and Truth in Procopius' Wars 13 5 Methodology 20 6 Three Facets of Ancient Combat 22 a Describing Combat in Antiquity 22 b Explaining Combat in Antiquity 25 c Great Man History and Generalship 31 7 Chapter Organization 34 8 The Wider Applicability of Procopian Combat 36 1 The Life of Procopius 38 1 Procopius' Life, Family, and Social Background 38 2 Religious Views 43 3 The Breadth of Procopius' Reading 45 4 Procopius the Rhetor 56 5 Procopius the Philosopher and Engineer 58 6 Procopius' Literary Career 61 7 Procopius' Service in the Military and His Sources 64 8 Concluding Thoughts 66 2 How to Defeat the Persians in Combat 68 1 The Persian Wars 69 2 Describing Combat 70 a Programmatic Combat 70 b Foreshadowing and the Exhortations of Generals 75 c The Excitement of Battle 84 3 Explaining Combat 89 a Tactics, Morale, and the Stratagem 89 b Procopius, God and Morality 101 vi Contents 4 Generalship: Belisarius vs. the Shahanshah 105 a Enter Belisarius 107 b Enter Khusro 109 c Belisarius vs. Khusro 111 5 Concluding Thoughts 113 3 How to Defeat the Vandals in Combat 115 1 The Vandal Wars 116 2 Describing Combat 117 a Narrative Order 117 b The Role of the Narrator 122 c Numbers and Names 125 d Textual Unity and Internal Referencing 131 3 Explaining Combat 134 a Exhortations and Morale 134 b Guerrilla Warfare and the Absence of Fighting 139 c The Desire for Plunder 141 d Procopius and Ancient Military Maxims 145 4 Generalship: Belisarius, the Lucky and Prepared General 152 5 Concluding Thoughts 157 4 How to Defeat the Goths in Combat 158 1 The Gothic Wars 159 2 Describing Combat 160 a Graphic Battle Scenes 161 b Single Combat 169 c Myriads, Romans and Barbarians 171 3 Explaining Combat 177 a Arete 177 b Horse-Archery 181 4 Generalship: Belisarius and Heroic Leadership 188 a Leading From the Front: Heroic Leadership 188 b The Achilles Ethos vs. the Odysseus Ethos 190 5 Concluding Thoughts 196 5 Book Eight 197 1 Battles 199 a River Hippis 199 b Senogallia 201 c Busta Gallorum 203 Contents vii 2 Sieges 210 a Archaeopolis 210 b Petra 214 3 Concluding Thoughts 218 6 Procopius' Worldview and the Wider Intellectual Context 219 1 Procopius' Audience 219 2 Didacticism, Combat and Culture 224 3 The "Face of Procopian Combat" 231 4 Conclusion 232 Map: The World of Justinian 236 Appendix 1: Glossary of Procopian Battles and Sieges 237 Appendix 2: Win/Loss Records of the Persian and Roman Armies in the Persian Wars 244 Select Bibliography 247 Index 272