We truly live in the golden age of Prokopian studies, and the book under review stands as a remarkable contribution to the field of Greek philology, a discipline that has been somewhat less involved in Prokopian studies over the past two decades. At its core, Albrecht Ziebuhr’s book presents a comprehensive examination of the excursuses in Prokopios’ Wars, shedding fresh light on how they shape and even construct that historical narrative. The study pays particular attention to Herodotean and Christian elements in Wars, and thus brings nuance to previous interpretations that had given priority to Thucydidean influences and often minimized Christian ones.
The book consists of a brief introduction and six main chapters and includes a brief index nominum. After a survey of the current state of scholarship and Prokopios’ life and works, Chapters 2 defines an excursus as a narratological unit that ranges from a brief annotation to an extensive section complete with its own prologue or conclusion. This definition emerges from a useful survey of literary theory on Greek and Latin, and from the nature of excursuses in ancient historiography. Ziebuhr’s interpretative framework deserves particular praise for its cautionary approach. He emphasizes that identifying an excursus involves some subjectivity, as it rests on several non-compulsory criteria. He lists four, but essentially there are only three: a content that diverges from yet aids the main narrative; potential for removal without disrupting the text’s coherence, and finally, distinct textual markers such as ring composition. Applying these criteria, he identifies forty-nine excursuses in Wars, considerably fewer than Jakob Riemenschneider’s broader definition would yield.[1] Notably, Book 8 is particularly digressive, containing twelve excursuses.
In Chapters 3 and 4, Ziebuhr discusses the functions of excursuses in Wars, emphasizing their role as supporting elements of the narrative. He categorizes two narratological functions of the excursuses: on the one hand, as ornamenta to enrich an otherwise rather monotonous main narrative, offering readers moments of diversion while simultaneously reinforcing the thematic tension in the narrative, while, on the other, they act as adiutoria, providing contextual information that supports the main storyline and guides the readers’ understanding of events. Beyond these narratological functions, excursuses also have an authorial function, as Prokopios could thereby show off his own erudition and mastery across diverse subjects. This is particularly apparent in the lengthy excursus on the Black Sea that opens Book 8.
The following two chapters (5–6) provide in-depth case studies of specific, selected excursuses from Books 2, 3, 4, and 7 and their particular roles. The analysis focuses on the longer excursuses, such as the detailed account of the Justinianic plague, and aims to identify their function within the larger structure of Wars and the larger historical context. A key feature of Ziebuhr’s book is his exploration of the interplay between Christian thought and classical historiographical models in Prokopios’ writing. Chapter 5 demonstrates how Jewish-Christian themes, such as the claim of the Moors’ purported Canaanite origins, are incorporated into Wars. Ziebuhr compellingly argues that these excursuses reflect Prokopios’ intention to frame contemporary events within a Christian historical framework, appealing to a late antique audience well-versed in the Bible and Christian traditions. The excursus on the Moors’ origo gentis (Wars 4.10.12–29) has been particularly criticized by earlier scholars for its historical inaccuracy, such as the assertion that contemporary Moors spoke Punic. However, Ziebuhr offers plausible explanations for both its narratological function and its relevance for the cultural context of sixth-century North Africa (a treatment that proves far more successful than Reimenschneider’s discussion of the same issue, pp. 194–212). Similarly, Ziebuhr approaches the Abgar excursus (Wars 2.12.7–30) as reflecting and engaging with the religious beliefs prevalent in Edessa during that time period, albeit his interpretation of the excursus largely aligns with established lines of previous scholarship.
In Chapter 6, Ziebuhr examines how Prokopios used the motif of disasters, such as the plague of 542 (Wars 2.22–23) and the natural calamities of 547/48 (Wars 7.29.1–17), to convey apocalyptic themes. His analysis reveals how Prokopios blended Herodotean and Thucydidean traditions with his Christian worldview to interpret these catastrophes as divine omens. The examination of the plague excursus and its parallels with Thucydides’ account underscores Prokopios’ remarkable skill to reshape classical models for the setting of his own time. Ziebuhr convincingly argues that the excursus on the calamities of 547/48 served to absolve Belisarios from responsibility for his military failures by attributing them to forces beyond human control. Regarding the excursus on the sea-monster Porphyrios (Wars 7.29.17–20), Ziebuhr identifies the creature as a sperm whale, and situates it in context with both Leviathan in the Christian tradition and the Sibylline Oracles.[2] Regarding the disaster excursuses, Ziebuhr concludes that Prokopios intended to offer multiple, partly contradictory ways of rationalizing these disasters, recognizing the equally diverse beliefs of his audience.
Overall, Ziebuhr’s work makes an important contribution the field, as it succeeds in drawing out how Prokopios molded conventions of classical historiography and integrated Christian elements to create a multi-layered historical narrative. Ziebuhr’s book is particularly noteworthy for laying out the Herodotean and Christian allusions in the text, which Prokopios integrated as an additional interpretative layer for his learned audience to discover and appreciate, without making such recognition essential to understanding the narrative.
Ziebuhr’s meticulous approach demonstrates that excursuses are a notable feature of Prokopios’ literary technique. However, in his treatment of the excursuses’ functions, one may criticize that Ziebuhr does not draw a clear distinction between their narratological and authorial roles. While these functions often intertwine, they operate in fundamentally different spheres of analysis, and a sharper delineation would have strengthened his argument. The book shows rigorous editorial care and is written in impeccable German prose. Ziebuhr’s writing style generally makes for a pleasant read, with a well-structured main argumentative line, though certain general points are repeated a little too often. The footnotes reveal the work’s origins as a dissertation, as they often summarize the state of research at length or simply refer to the TLG.
As Greatrex has already pointed out in his own review,[3] one notable omission in the cited works is the aforementioned book by Riemenschneider, which also focuses on excursuses in Wars and was written around the same time. A critical dialogue between these two works could have greatly enriched both. Another potential shortcoming is Ziebuhr’s decision not to include Prokopios’ other two works, Buildings and Secret History, even though Wars alone contains around fifty excursuses. In particular, his attempt to categorize Prokopian excursuses and identify their functions would have benefited from selecting them from Prokopios’ entire oeuvre. A more comprehensive approach could have provided a more nuanced understanding of the diversity and functions of excursuses in Prokopios’ writings; though perhaps this will be explored in future work. Despite these minor reservations, the book serves as an essential resource for anyone interested in Wars and is certain to have a lasting influence on future Prokopian studies as well as scholarship of other classicizing historians.
Notes
[1] J. Riemenschneider, Prokop und der soziale Kosmos der Historiographie: Exkurse, Diskurse und die römische Gesellschaft der Spätantike, Millennium-Studien 108 (Berlin: DeGruyter, 2024), pp. 9–12. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111547640
[2] Most recently, and therefore not cited, are T. Schmidt, ‘Constantinople and the Sea: Narratives of a Human-Nonhuman Ecosystem?’, Scandinavian Journal for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 8 (2022): 67–103 and R. Denson, ‘Procopius and the Lord of the Demons: The Synthesis of the Demonic Justinian’. Journal of Late Antiquity 15 (2022): 494–518.
[3] Sehepunkte 24 (2024), No. 11 [15.11.2024], https://www.sehepunkte.de/2024/11/39226.html