Justinian: The Headless Emperor // Procopius' Secret History // 6th century AD Primary Source @VoicesofthePast

Uploaded October 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

"...for one of these asserted that he would rise suddenly from the imperial throne...and the head of Justinian would disappear suddenly, but the rest of his body seemed to keep making these same long circuits..."

Here we have a Halloween special for you - Procopius' Secret History, which portrays the then Emperor Justinian as not only cruel and incompetent but actually possessed by demons.

Rediscovered centuries after its writing in the Vatican Library, it was finally published in 1623. Possibly the result of Procopius' disillusionment or even as a type of insurance to be released if anything were to happen to him, it covers the same period of Byzantine history as his History of the Wars; featuring all the same players but completely different in tone.

How do we actually know about history? Voices of the Past is a channel dedicated to recreating the original accounts from the people who lived through events, or who lived far closer to them than we do today. We do this word for word, with an accompanying soundtrack of rousing music and images.

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— Music courtesy of:-
- Epidemic Sound

— Voice actor & editor:-
David Kelly

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Thanks to:

Tataryn [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Justinian: The Headless Emperor // Procopius Secret History // 6th century AD Primary Source

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