Procopius of Caesarea (, ; c. 500 CE – c. 560 CE) was a prominent
late antique scholar from
Palaestina Prima. Accompanying the Roman general
Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor
Justinian, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the
Wars (or
Histories), the
Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated (and infamous)
Secret History. He is commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient Western world.