H. B. Dewing, trans. The Wars of Justinian. Revised and modernized, with an introduction and notes, by Anthony Kaldellis. Indianopolis: Hacket Publishing, 2014. 680
pp. $29.00 (paper), ISBN 978-1-62466-172-3.
Reviewed by Nathan D. Wells (Quincy College)
Published on H-War (March, 2017)
Commissioned by Margaret Sankey
Historians, whether professionally trained or amateur, who strive to learn about a civilization and its leaders often rely on sources that were close to those who determined seminal events. By this standard Prokopius of
Caesarea is certainly among the more important chroniclers of history. Serving during the reign of the emperor
Justinian as legal advisor to the Byzantine general Belisarius, Prokopius accompanied him on campaigns both in
the Near East against the Persians and in Italy against
the Goths. While his The Wars of Justinian and The Buildings of Justinian are remarkable for the volume of detailed
writing over a relatively short span of time, Prokopius is
also chiefly remembered for his scandalous Secret History
documenting the relationship between Justinian and the
empress Theodora. Just as his emperor Justinian is remembered as possibly the last Roman emperor (or the
first Byzantine one), Prokopius is possibly the last great
historian of antiquity. While H. B. Dewing’s translation
of The Wars of Justinian has been available for nearly a
century, this is a new translation by Anthony Kaldellis.
Persia and describe the campaigns of the Sasanian shah
Kavadh I, the “Nika” revolt in Constantinople in 532, the
war by Kavadh’s successor, Khosrau I, in 540, and his assault of and destruction of Antioch. The great plague that
devastated Constantinople in 542 is also covered here.
The early career of Belisarius is covered in some detail.
This is unsurprising, given that Belisarius was a patron
of Prokopius, and would see service against the Persians.
The next two books, the Vandal War, cover Belisarius’s
campaign against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa.
The remaining three volumes comprise The Gothic War,
the campaigns by Belisarius and others to recapture Italy,
then under the rule of the Ostrogoths. The eighth and
final book covers 552/553, when a Roman army led by
Narses finally destroyed the Ostrogothic kingdom. This
eighth book covers campaigns both in Italy and on the
eastern frontier.
This review is not so much of Prokopius’s work, but
rather that of Kaldellis. I used the Dewing translation
as source material for my graduate work on the RoThe emperor Justinian spent much of his thirty-eight man/Byzantine military of the sixth and seventh cenyears on the throne engaged in wars, both foreign and turies. It was a solid translation and proved quite usedomestic. These military campaigns were waged in both ful. Why the new translation, then? Kaldellis released
the east and west as Justinian attempted to secure ex- an updated translation of Prokopius’s Secret History in
isting borders and reclaim part of the old empire. Just 2010, and the fact that many events are covered in both
as successful generals like Belisarius and Narses enjoyed volumes seems as good an incentive as any. While the
imperial patronage, so too did chroniclers like Prokopius general view is that Secret History was most likely a farand Agathias. The Wars of Justinian is divided into eight cical account meant only for the eyes of Prokopius’s close
books, or sections. The first seven were most likely com- friends, that both were written by the same author, with
piled and published together; the eighth and final book the same mindset, means that these two volumes and
was added perhaps a decade later. The first two books Prokopius’s Buildings of Justinian should be treated as
deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid a boxed set of sorts. Kaldellis’s translation of the Secret
1
H-Net Reviews
History was well received, and so should be his Wars of
Justinian.
larged, yet vulnerable empire. Both should get more than
a passing comment in the notes. The more glaring issue is that despite the inclusion of several maps covering the Roman and Persian worlds, several of the events
described occur in locations not shown on these maps.
Tracking Belisarius or Narses often required an atlas. All
criticisms aside, however, I would certainly recommend
the book to anyone interested in Roman, Byzantine or
military history.
This is a fine volume overall, but there are some criticisms. While Prokopius is often regarded as the last
great historian of antiquity, his successors Agathias and
Menander Protector were in many ways as important.
Edward Gibbon famously considered Agathias “a poet
and rhetorician” whereas Procopius was “a statesman
and soldier,” but this oversimplifies things. The later historians described the end of Justinian’s reign, as well as
how Emperor Justin II would try to maintain the en-
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at:
https://networks.h-net.org/h-war
Citation: Nathan D. Wells. Review of Dewing, H. B., trans., The Wars of Justinian. H-War, H-Net Reviews. March,
2017.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=45641
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoncommercialNo Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
2