Most of what we know of Theodora is found in Procopius’s Secret History, but the intensity of Procopius’s hostility to Theodora makes it difficult to trust. Procopius accused Theodora of unspeakable crimes, going so far as to claim that she and Justinian may not have been human beings, but rather “murderous demons . . . who conspired together for the purpose of destroying all the nations and the works of men as efficiently and quickly as possible.” As Procopius tells it, in her entire life, Theodora did nothing that was not motivated by some combination of greed, envy, lust, or depravity. Every rumor of outrageous behavior is reported, with Procopius taking pains to include as many lurid details as possible.

What value, then, might Procopius’s work have as history? If its over-the-top attacks on Theodora and Justinian call into question its reliability as a factual record, what, if anything, can it tell us about the world in which Theodora and Justinian lived? To answer this question, we must begin with Procopius’s motives in writing the Secret History. Procopius lived in a time of enormous uncertainty and turmoil. In his view, Byzantine society was on the verge of collapse, an opinion that was not so far-fetched given events in Rome in the previous century. The Secret History was Procopius’s effort to draw connections between the policies and personalities of Byzantium’s rulers and the rapid decline he perceived. Thus, the Secret History provides the modern historian with insight into sixth-century Byzantine ideas about the nature of historical change, as well as a window into the social and cultural anxieties of Byzantine elites. As you read these documents, consider what connections Procopius might have wanted readers to make between his descriptions of Theodora and Justinian and the problems and challenges his society faced.