Eunapius of Sardis composed the first secular narrative of this period in Greek, but it survives only in fragments (Blockley 1981: 1-26). The emperor Constantine Por-phyrogenitus (ad 913-59) ordered the compilation of excerpts, the Excerpta Histor-ica, arranged according to topic from a wide range of historical works, including that of Eunapius (Banchich 1985). The patriarch Photius preserves a description of Eunapius’ history in his Bibliotheca (Phot. Bibl. 77), which reveals that it consisted of fourteen books and was intended as a continuation of the history by Dexippus. It began with the reign of Claudius II (ad 268-70) and concluded with the death of the empress Eudoxia in ad 404. Eunapius was a sophist and a staunch pagan, and Photius claims that he published two different editions of his history, the main difference being that he removed the more virulently anti-Christian comments from his second edition. He also published a second historical work, his Lives of Philosophers and Sophists. Fortunately, this survives in full and can be dated to ad 399. Since Eunapius refers several times in this to his earlier history, these references should help us to date the composition of the first edition of his history. Yet their interpretation remains controversial, so that it is not clear whether he had published the full text of the first edition by the time that Ammianus was writing his history about ad 391, or had merely published several installments of the full work by that date. The surviving fragments confirm that Eunapius was fiercely critical of leading Christian figures such as the emperors Constantine I and Theodosius I, while he praised those who sought to maintain traditional pagan religion.
The next author to compose a secular narrative in Greek seems to have been Olympiodorus, a pagan poet from Thebes in Egypt (Blockley 1981: 27-47). Again, his work survives only in fragments, most of them, again, preserved by Photius in his Bibliotheca (Phot. Bibl. 80). According to Photius, Olympiodorus composed his history in twenty-two books covering the period from the death of the western general Stilicho in ad 408 to the coronation of the emperor Valentinian III (ad 425-55). The surprising feature of his work is that, despite being written in Greek, it is almost entirely concerned with events in the west.
The next author to consider is Priscus of Panium in Thrace (Blockley 1981: 48-70). He was a rhetor and sophist, who published a history in eight books apparently covering the period from the accession of Attila as king of the Huns in AD 434 to the death of the emperor Leo (ad 457-74). His interest in the relations between Byzantium and the Huns of Attila in particular, but also the relations between the Byzantines and other foreign peoples in general, is best explained by the fact that he seems to have served on several diplomatic missions, including one to Attila in ad 449. The Excerpta Historica of Constantine Porphyrogenitus preserve most of the fragments of his work. His history served as an important source for later authors such as Procopius and Evagrius.
Controversy surrounds the origin of Malchus and the range covered by his history, since Photius (Bibl. 78) and the Suda (a tenth-century lexicon) disagree with one another in these matters (Blockley 1981:71-85). Photius states that Malchus was from Philadelphia in Syria, which is probably correct, given Malchus’ Semitic name. The Suda, however, describes him as a Byzantine, which suggests that he spent most of his working life in Constantinople. Photius claims that Malchus wrote a history in seven books, beginning when the emperor Leo fell ill in ad 473 and ending with the murder of the western emperor Nepos (ad 474-80). The Suda, however, states that Malchus’ history covered the period from the death of Constantine to the accession of Anastasius (apparently, therefore, from ad 337 to ad 491). However, since Photius also says that the seven books that he read show that Malchus had produced several books preceding them, and that he would have produced others also had he lived longer, the obvious suggestion is that Malchus published two different editions of his work. Again, the Excerpta Historica of Constantine Porphyrogenitus preserve most of the fragments of his work, although the Suda preserves several important fragments also.
The survival rate of the secular histories from the Greek east improves rapidly during the sixth century. Zosimus has left us his New History in six books. The work opens by summarizing events from the Trojan war until the reign of Probus (ad 276-82), but then resumes a more detailed narrative until it breaks off suddenly just before the sack of Rome in ad 410. The sudden ending suggests that he died before he could complete the work, and it remains unclear to what date he had actually intended to continue it. Photius reports that he was an advocatus fisci (Phot. Bibl. 98), and he seems to have lived during the early sixth century. Unfortunately, he did not produce any substantial original history, but seems merely to have epitomized the works of Dexippus, Eunapius, and Oympiodorus in turn, and to have conjoined the results. His importance, therefore, lies in his witness to these sources rather than in anything that he says himself. His stated purpose was to describe how the Romans had lost an empire in as short a time as they had gained it, and he blamed this loss squarely on the christianization of the state and the neglect of the traditional rites (Zos. Hist. nova 1. 1). It is not clear why he described his history as ‘‘new,’’ but it may have been to emphasize the contrast between his task and that of Polybius of Megalopolis (d.118 bc), who had described how the Romans had originally won their empire.
The most important author of the sixth century was Procopius of Caesarea in Palestine (Averil Cameron 1985). He composed three historical works that focused on the reign of Justinian I (ad 527-65). His major work, the Wars, consisted of eight books when complete. The first seven books were divided geographically. Hence books 1-3 dealt with the Persian wars from ad 491 to 549, books 3-4 with the wars against the Vandals from ad 395 to 548, and books 5-7 with the Gothic wars from AD 475 to 550. The emphasis overall was on the progress of these wars under Justinian, especially his successful reconquest of Africa and most of Italy. Procopius probably completed these books by ad 550, but he added book 8 in ad 552, bringing his accounts of the wars in the various theaters up to that date. He also composed his Buildings, which cataloged and praised Justinian’s building activities throughout the empire (excluding Italy). It has been variously dated between ad 552 and 560. Finally, he composed a Secret History, in which he savagely attacked Justinian and his wife Theodora, in complete contradiction of the praise lavished upon them in his other works. Its date is disputed, but it was probably written in ad 550. Procopius had firsthand knowledge of many of the events that he describes, since he served as an assessor on the staff of the most important general of the day, Belisarius, from ad 527 to 540, and accompanied him to the eastern frontier, Africa, and to Italy. He seems to have spent most of the rest of his life at Constantinople. The date of his death is unknown, but it has been argued that he died as early as ad 553 (Howard-Johnston 2000: 19-22). His classicizing style makes it difficult to determine what his religious views were and, while most accept that he was a conventional Christian, it has also been argued that he was a Platonist pagan (Kaldellis 2004).
Agathias continues the Wars of Procopius in five books covering the period AD 552-8 (Cameron 1970). He was born at Myrina in the province of Asia, but spent his adult life as a lawyer in Constantinople. He was a prolific poet, the author of nine books of erotic poetry in hexameters (Daphniaca, lost) as well as a collection of epigrams (Cycle), so that his decision to continue Procopius’ history is surprising. It is no surprise, however, that the poet should turn out to be a dismal historian, who edits material to suit his moralizing tendencies and seems sometimes to use myth to supplement history, in a sort of intellectual challenge to his reader (Kaldellis 2003). He seems to have composed his history in the ad 570s, and to have intended to continue it much further, until the death of the Persian king Chosroes in ad 579 (Agathias, Hist. 4. 29), but his own death intervened. The protector Menander continued the history of Agathias from ad 558 until the fall of Sirmium to the Avars in ad 582 (Blockley 1985a). The Suda preserves a biographical fragment, but our knowledge of this author and his work derives mostly from the fragments preserved by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the Excerpta Historica.
Finally, Theophylact Simocatta wrote a history in eight books concerning the reign of Maurice. His work survives in full, but he provides little information concerning himself. He seems to have been an Egyptian Christian and to have spent his adult life as a scholasticus at Constantinople. Three minor works by him survive also, revealing his interest in literature, natural philosophy, and theology as well as history. It has been argued that he contributed little new in his work, that he did not use oral sources in the way that he might have, and was generally content to combine a limited number of written sources into a larger narrative (Whitby 1988: 311-13).
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