© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi ��.��63/97890043�5938_0�3
CHAPTER 12
The Heroine and the Historian: Procopius of
Caesarea on the Troubled Reign of Queen
Amalasuentha
Kate CooperIntroduction
In the fifth book of his Wars, the Greek historian Procopius tells the sad story
of how Italy spun out of control after the death of Theoderic, king of the
Goths. His protagonist is a wise and beautiful queen, Amalasuentha, the late
king’s only daughter. After her father’s death she is besieged by a parade of vil-
lains. One of them, her treacherous cousin, arranges for her to be murdered.
Naturally, her death must be avenged. As Procopius told it, the story offered a
perfect justification for the Roman emperor Justinian’s invasion of Italy shortly
afterward, in the autumn of 535. It is worth paying close attention to how he
shapes the tale of the Gothic queen’s downfall. It offers a stylized and at times
unreliable witness to the events he recounts, and we will see below that the
historian’s characterization of Amalasuentha’s death as casus belli may be one
of the places where historical veracity is eclipsed by the narrative impulse. It
is a choice with no little significance: it was Justinian’s invasion and not the
comparatively tranquil Gothic kingdom that preceded it that destroyed the
economic and social infrastructure of Roman Italy.1
Yet the episode also has real interest as a starting point for considering how
gender coloured the problem of power in Ostrogothic Italy. Procopius’ account
of the troubled reign of Amalasuentha offers a vivid illustration of the prin-
ciple that ancient writers were often far more interested in the narrative power
of a troubled heroine than in understanding the challenges faced by a histori-
cal woman. Elite women had significant opportunities to control political and
cultural capital in Ostrogothic society, in part because of the centrality of mar-
riage alliances in diplomacy and dynastic legitimacy. It goes without saying
that these women faced distinctive challenges on account of their gender, but
to say more than this requires an exercise in source criticism.
1 Lee, “Empire at War”, pp. 113–33, offers a useful assessment of the consequences of Justinian’s
Italian campaign at pp. 125–8.