Introduction

Summary

If time is the first dimension of history, then space is its second, so the saying goes. Time is the more obvious axis against which to plot histories, but historians obviously have to make choices as to which geographical areas to cover. A traditional conundrum for historians of antiquity was how to reconcile a variety of theatres of war with the single course of time. For the narrative to remain coherent, a continuous account was required, but this entailed shifts in geographical focus that threatened the narrative’s clarity.¹ One solution was to divide the story into geographical sections, seen in its most explicit form in the Wars of Procopius (mid-sixth c.).