The Secret History · Themes
Themes & patterns
What The Secret History by Procopius keeps returning to.
Theme markers and the full heatmap sit beside the text — open a free preview to follow them in the book.
Theme heatmap
How major themes rise and fall across the book — a preview of the full map that sits beside the text as you read.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
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| Hyperconsciousness Inaction | ||||||||||||
| Sublime Beautiful | ||||||||||||
| Spite Resentment | ||||||||||||
| Suffering Torment |
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See full heatmapCorruption and Tyranny
The book systematically details the pervasive corruption, greed, and tyrannical rule of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, who manipulate laws, sell offices, and plunder their subjects for personal gain.
Hypocrisy and Deception
Procopius exposes the hypocrisy of Justinian and Theodora, who publicly pose as pious and just rulers while privately engaging in deceit, broken oaths, and calculated cruelty to maintain power.
Where it surfaces
- Foreword by the Historian
- The Secret History
- How the Great General Belisarius Was Hoodwinked by His Wife, Whose Lover Became a Monk
- II: How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius’s Military Judgment, to the Joy of the Enemy
- Character and Appearance of Justinian
- X: How Justinian Created a New Law Permitting Him to Marry a Courtesan on Her Promise to Repent Her Past; and the Truth About the Apparent Quarrels of a Happy Pair
Abuse of Power
The narrative shows how those in authority, from the imperial couple to appointed magistrates, exploit their positions to murder, confiscate property, and terrorize citizens without fear of accountability.
Where it surfaces
- How the Great General Belisarius Was Hoodwinked by His Wife, Whose Lover Became a Monk
- II: How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius’s Military Judgment, to the Joy of the Enemy
- III: Showing the Danger of Interfering with a Woman’s Intrigues, Especially When the Woman Is the Friend of an Empress
- How Theodora, Revenging Her Dear Antonina, Humiliated the Conqueror of Africa and Italy
- How Theodora Tricked the General’s Daughter Into a Liaison with the Empress’s Nephew, and Belisarius Became a Public Laughing Stock
- Ignorance of the Emperor Justin, and His Stencilled Signature, and How His Nephew Justinian Was the Virtual Ruler
Moral Decadence
Theodora's early life as a courtesan and her later depraved actions, along with the general licentiousness of the court, illustrate a theme of moral decay at the highest levels of society.
Where it surfaces
- How the Great General Belisarius Was Hoodwinked by His Wife, Whose Lover Became a Monk
- How Theodora, Revenging Her Dear Antonina, Humiliated the Conqueror of Africa and Italy
- How Theodora Tricked the General’s Daughter Into a Liaison with the Empress’s Nephew, and Belisarius Became a Public Laughing Stock
- IX: And How Theodora, Most Depraved of All Courtesans, Won His Love
- X: How Justinian Created a New Law Permitting Him to Marry a Courtesan on Her Promise to Repent Her Past; and the Truth About the Apparent Quarrels of a Happy Pair
- XII: Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form
Injustice and Lawlessness
The book highlights the systematic dismantling of legal protections, where trials are rigged, laws are retroactively changed for profit, and the innocent are punished while the guilty go free.
Where it surfaces
- II: How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius’s Military Judgment, to the Joy of the Enemy
- III: Showing the Danger of Interfering with a Woman’s Intrigues, Especially When the Woman Is the Friend of an Empress
- How Theodora, Revenging Her Dear Antonina, Humiliated the Conqueror of Africa and Italy
- How Theodora Tricked the General’s Daughter Into a Liaison with the Empress’s Nephew, and Belisarius Became a Public Laughing Stock
- Ignorance of the Emperor Justin, and His Stencilled Signature, and How His Nephew Justinian Was the Virtual Ruler
- VII: Outrages of the Blues
Historical Truth vs. Propaganda
Procopius frames his work as a corrective to his earlier official histories, revealing the hidden motives and true events that were suppressed during the reign of Justinian and Theodora.
Where it surfaces
Suffering of the Common People
The text repeatedly emphasizes the immense hardship inflicted on ordinary citizens, soldiers, and the poor through excessive taxation, monopolies, military neglect, and violent factionalism.
Where it surfaces
- III: Showing the Danger of Interfering with a Woman’s Intrigues, Especially When the Woman Is the Friend of an Empress
- VII: Outrages of the Blues
- XI: How the Defender of the Faith Ruined His Subjects
- XVIII: How Justinian Killed a Trillion People
- XIX: How He Seized All the Wealth of the Romans and Threw It Away in the Sea and on the Barbarians
- XXI: The Sky Tax, the Selling of All Offices, and How Border Armies Were Forbidden to Punish Invading Barbarians