Late Antique Historiography

Buildings

Title(s):
  • Buildings
  • Περὶ τῶν τοῦ δεσπότου Ἰουστινιανοῦ κτισμάτων
    (Peri tōn tou despotou Ioustinianou ktismatōn, On the buildings of our Lord Justinian)
Author:
Period covered:
Justinian
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Secular history (general)
  • Geography
  • Oration (panegyric)
Remarks:
Greatrex (1994: 105-107) dates the Buildings shortly after the appearance of book VIII of the Wars, that is around the year 554. Downey (1947: 182-183) argued for a dating later than 554. Whitby (1985: 141-147) dates the Buildings to 560. Evans (1972, 43) also dates the work to 560.
Procopius characterizes the Buildings as a history transmitting the great achievements of Justinian I and states that the composition of the Buildings was the wish of the emperor (Buildings 1.1.1-5 and  1.3.1). On the two recensions of the text, see Montinaro 2012.
Edition - Translation:
  • H.B. Dewing, G. Downey (1940) Procopius. Volume Seven. (The Loeb Classical Library) London.
  • J. Haury, G. Wirth (1964) Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia. Volume Four (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana). Leipzig.
  • O. Veh (1961-1971) Prokopios: Werke. Four Volumes. Munich.
  • L.R. Cresci (1977) Procopio di Cesarea: Carte segrete. Milan.
  • L.R. Cresci, G. Marrone (2008) Procopio di Cesarea: Carte segrete. Milan.
  • M. Periago Lorente (2003) Procopio de Cesarea: Los edificios. Murcia.
  • D. Roques, E. Amato, J. Schamp (2011) Procope de Césarée: Constructions de Justinien Ier. Alessandria.
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • Av. Cameron (1985) Procopius and the sixth century. Berkeley.
  • Av. Cameron (1966) 'The skepticism of Procopius'. Historia 15: 466-482.
  • M.R. Cataudella (2003) 'Historiography in the East'. In: Greek and Roman historiography in Late Antiquity: Fourth to sixth century A.D., ed. G. Marasco. Leiden - Boston: 391-447.
  • G. Downey (1947) 'The composition of Procopius De Aedificiis'. Transactions of the American Philological Association 78: 171-183.
  • J.A.S. Evans (1996) 'The dates of Procopius' works: A recapitulation of the evidence'. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 37: 301-313.
  • G. Greatrex (2003) 'Recent work on Procopius and the composition of Wars VIII'. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 27: 45-67.
  • G. Greatrex (1994) 'The dates of Procopius' works'. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 18: 101-114.
  • A. Kaldellis (2004) Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, history and philosophy at the end of Antiquity. Philadelphia.
  • F. Montinaro (2012) 'Byzantium and the Slavs in the reign of Justinian: Comparing the two recensions of Procopius of Caesarea’s treatise On buildings’. In: The Pontic-Danubian realm in the period of the great migration, ed. V. Ivanišević - M. Kazanski. Paris - Belgrade: 89-114.
  • G. Moravcsik (1958) Byzantinoturcica: Die byzantinischen Quellen der Geschichte der Türkvölker. Berlin: 491-492.
  • W.T. Treadgold (2007) The early Byzantine historians. New York: 176-226.
  • M. Whitby (1985) 'The Sangarius bridge and Procopius'. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 105: 129-148.