Editing Procopius (section)

==Career==
In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor [[Justinian I|Justinian{{nbsp}}I]], he became the legal adviser (''{{lang|la|adsessor}}'') for [[Belisarius]], a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire.{{efn|Procopius speaks of becoming Belisarius's advisor (''symboulos'') in that year.<ref>Procopius, ''Wars'', 1.12.24.</ref>}}

Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the [[Battle of Callinicum]] in 531<ref>''Wars'', I.18.1-56.</ref> and recalled to Constantinople.<ref>''Wars'', I.21.2.</ref> Procopius witnessed the [[Nika riots]] of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general [[Mundus (general)|Mundus]] repressed with a massacre in the [[Hippodrome of Constantinople|Hippodrome]] there.<ref>''Wars'', I.24.1-58.</ref> In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the [[Vandal Kingdom|Vandal kingdom]] in [[North Africa]], took part in the capture of [[Carthage]], and remained in Africa with Belisarius's successor [[Solomon (magister militum)|Solomon the Eunuch]] when Belisarius returned east to the capital. Procopius recorded a few of the [[extreme weather events of 535–536]], although these were presented as a backdrop to Byzantine military activities, such as [[Stotzas|a mutiny in and around Carthage]].<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16765/16765-h/16765-h.htm 1].</ref>{{efn|Before modern times, European and Mediterranean historians, as far as weather is concerned, typically recorded only the extreme or major weather events for a year or a multi-year period, preferring to focus on the human activities of policymakers and warriors instead.}} He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogothic kingdom]] in Italy and experienced the [[Siege of Rome (537–538)|Gothic siege of Rome]] that lasted a year and nine days, ending in mid-March 538. He witnessed Belisarius's entry into the Gothic capital, [[Ravenna]], in 540. Both the ''Wars''<ref>''Wars'', VIII.</ref> and the ''Secret History'' suggest that his relationship with Belisarius cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with [[Gothic War (535–554)|a renewal of the war with the Goths]], now led by the able king [[Totila]], Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius's staff.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

As ''[[magister militum]]'', Belisarius was an "illustrious man" ({{langx|la|vir illustris}}; {{langx|grc|ἰλλούστριος}}, ''illoústrios''); being his ''{{lang|la|adsessor}}'', Procopius must therefore have had at least the rank of a "visible man" (''vir spectabilis''). He thus belonged to the mid-ranking group of the senatorial order (''{{lang|la|ordo senatorius}}''). However, the ''Suda'', which is usually well-informed in such matters, also describes Procopius himself as one of the ''{{lang|la|illustres}}''. Should this information be correct, Procopius would have had a seat in [[Byzantine Senate|Constantinople's senate]], which was restricted to the ''{{lang|la|illustres}}'' under Justinian. He also wrote that under Justinian's reign in 560, a major Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built [[Temple Mount#Byzantine period|on the site of the Temple Mount]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.templemount.org/visittemp.html|title=Visiting the Temple Mount|first=Lambert|last=Dolphin|publisher=Temple Mount|date=16 July 2021|access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=September 2023|reason=The source says "Byzantine historian Procopius wrote that the church was built in 560 AD and burned down by the Persians in 614.". But Procopius was dead in 614.}}