Procopius was a prominent Roman scholar who accompanied the general Belisarius during the wars under the Roman Emperor Justinian. Procopius became the greatest Byzantine historian of the 6th century and he is often referred to as the last historian of the ancient Western world. Procopius's greatest work is History of the Wars which provides great detail of the Persian War, the Vandalic War, and the Gothic War. Books V and VI focuses on the Gothic War which was fought between the Eastern Roman Empire under Emperor Justinian and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy from 535-554.