The Church Fathers · c. 550–558; unpublished in his lifetime
The Secret History
Anecdota
Procopius of Caesarea · c. 500 – c. 565
What it is
The same author on the same reign, written for a drawer: Justinian as a demon who walked the palace at night without a head, Theodora's career before the throne recounted in detail no other ancient text matches, and a body count in the millions.
Why it lasted
Rediscovered in the Vatican in 1623 and disbelieved for centuries. Whatever its accuracy, no other document shows so plainly what a Christian emperor's own senior officials thought of him while praising him in public.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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