ABSTRACT
Procopius of Caesarea was an author for whom there existed an intimate connection between creatures of all sorts, including man and the soil. The first pertains to the Persian subjugation of Armenia. But, perhaps more significantly, in terms of his broader historical analysis, Procopius' position would appear to have been that any ruler, such as Justinian, who sought to deny men the land that was theirs was necessarily inviting trouble. Issues pertaining to landownership were thus at the heart of Procopius' critique of Justinian's regime. Naturally, the connection between man and soil was at its most conspicuous with respect to the land labourers and peasants of the Mediterranean world, whose livelihoods depended on working the land and whose primary loyalty, Procopius suggests, was thus to the land that they and their families had often cultivated and tilled for generations. Procopius thus had an eye for the contours of landed society.
