We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 July 2009
Vitigis, leader of the Goths, worsted in war [by Belisarius], sent two envoys to Chosroes, the king of the Persians, to persuade him to march against the Romans. In order that the real character of the embassy might not be at once obvious, the men whom he sent were not Goths but priests of Liguria who were attracted to this enterprise by rich gifts of money. One of these men, who seemed to be the more worthy, undertook the embassy assuming the pretended name of bishop, which did not belong to him at all, while the other followed as his attendant … Vitigis also entrusted to them a letter written to Chosroes and sent them off.
Procopius, Wars II, 2.1–2; VI, 22.20. Cf. II, 2.3–12, 14.11–12; VI, 22.17–25The authors studied in previous chapters give some intimation of the constant activity and complexity of political communication throughout the late and post-imperial world. The interchange of communication between different levels of authority, using well-maintained traditions, continued to serve a central role in public administration as it had under the earlier empire. But, as Procopius' vignette demonstrates, political communication also shaped crucial political developments in the fifth and sixth centuries.
The role of two nameless members of the lower Italian clergy in triggering the conflict of 540–4 between the late antique ‘super-powers’ of the eastern Roman empire and Sassanian Persia dramatically illustrates the potential of late antique patterns of communication.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
