Sogni africani: Giustiniano e Procopio alla vigilia della Guerra Vandalica (533)

Abstract: Only four dreams are described in detail in Procopius’ Wars, and three of them are concentrated in a few pages. They all deal with the months preceding the Vandalic War, but were written down a decade later, when the stunning success of Belisarius’ campaign had long been overshadowed by rebellions, military defeats, and the plague. Procopius needed to explain both the unprecedented victories of the early 530s and the following reversal of fortunes. Therefore, he employed three premonitory dreams to rationalize the exceptional nature of what had happened, focusing on the favour of the divinity. The dreams showed that God was at the emperor’s side before the expedition against Carthage, whereas their disappearance indicated that for unknown reasons Justinian no longer enjoyed divine support during the following years. This situation might explain why imperial political communication chose to dwell on the image of the “sleepless emperor” from the 540s onward. At a time of misfortune, dreams could only be a bad omen, so it was advisable to temporarily suspend nocturnal communication with the divinity.