ABSTRACT

Procopius' preface needs to be read in close conjunction with those of both Herodotus and Thucydides; the influence of the latter has sometimes overshadowed that of the former in modern assessments. People can only understand Procopius' historiographical aims in the preface to Wars by studying in detail his mimesis of Thucydides and Herodotus may equally not appear particularly novel. That mimesis of Thucydides' and Herodotus' prefatory statements is a prominent feature of Procopius' preface to the Wars has long been noted by students of the Wars. Readers of the preface could thus be expected to recognise that a deliberate combination of Herodotean and Thucydidean elements comprises the defining feature of Procopius' mimesis. Procopius' mimesis of Thucydides is at once creative, skillful and driven by his own historiographical argument is shown by the fact that nowhere in the preface are the Thucydidean terms of comparison employed.