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Cassiodorus
Gesta Theodorici - Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus (c 485 - c 580).jpg
Cassiodorus (Gesta Theodorici: Leiden, University Library, Ms. vul. 46, fol. 2r), dated 1177
Layperson and Founder
BornFlavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator [2]
c. 490
Squillace, Catanzaro, Italy
Diedc. 583 (aged 92–93)
Squillace, Catanzaro, Italy
Honored inRoman Catholic Church
Major worksMonasteries of Vivarium and Montecastello

Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585),[3][4] commonly known as Cassiodorus (/ˌkæsiˈdɔːrəs/), was a Christian, Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname; not his rank. He also founded a monastery, Vivarium (or "Castellum"), where he worked extensively the last three decades of his life.[5]

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Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and was ruled by emperors. From the accession of Caesar Augustus as the first Roman emperor to the military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a Principate with Italia as the metropole of its provinces and the city of Rome as its sole capital. The Empire was later ruled by multiple emperors who shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. The city of Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until AD 476 when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople following the capture of the Western capital of Ravenna by the Germanic barbarians. The adoption of Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire in AD 380 and the fall of the Western Roman Empire to Germanic kings conventionally marks the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Because of these events, along with the gradual Hellenization of the Eastern Roman Empire, historians distinguish the medieval Roman Empire that remained in the Eastern provinces as the Byzantine Empire.

Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great, also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patrician of the Eastern Roman Empire. As ruler of the combined Gothic realms, Theodoric controlled an empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Adriatic Sea. Though Theodoric himself only used the title 'king' (rex), some scholars characterize him as a Western Roman Emperor in all but name, since he ruled large parts of the former Western Roman Empire, had received the former Western imperial regalia from Constantinople in 497, and was referred to by the title augustus by some of his subjects.

Ostrogoths

Ostrogoths

The Ostrogoths were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who had settled in the Balkans in the 4th century, having crossed the Lower Danube. While the Visigoths had formed under the leadership of Alaric I, the new Ostrogothic political entity which came to rule Italy was formed in the Balkans under the influence of the Amal dynasty, the family of Theodoric the Great.

Monastery

Monastery

A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary, and outlying granges. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may also include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community. These may include a hospice, a school, and a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge, or a brewery.

Life

Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in Calabria, Italy. Some modern historians speculate that his family was of Syrian origin based on his Greek name.[6][7] His ancestry included some of the most prominent ministers of the state extending back several generations.[8] His great-grandfather held a command in the defense of the coasts of southern Italy from Vandal sea-raiders in the middle of the fifth century; his grandfather appears in a Roman embassy to Attila the Hun, and his father (who bore the same name) served as comes sacrarum largitionum and comes rerum privatarum to Odovacer[8] and as Praetorian Prefect to Theoderic the Great.[9]

Cassiodorus began his career under the auspices of his father, about in his twentieth year, when the latter made him his consiliarius upon his own appointment to the Praetorian Prefecture. In the judicial capacity of the prefect, he held absolute right of appeal over any magistrate in the empire (or Gothic kingdom, later) and the consiliarius served as a sort of legal advisor in cases of greater complexity. Evidently, therefore, Cassiodorus had received some education in the law.[10] During his working life he worked as quaestor sacri palatii c. 507–511, as a consul in 514, then as magister officiorum under Theoderic, and later under the regency for Theoderic's young successor, Athalaric. Cassiodorus kept copious records and letterbooks concerning public affairs. At the Gothic court his literary skill, which seems mannered and rhetorical to modern readers, was so esteemed that when in Ravenna he was often entrusted with drafting significant public documents. His culminating appointment was as praetorian prefect for Italy, effectively the prime ministership of the Ostrogothic civil government[11] and a high honor to finish any career. Cassiodorus also collaborated with Pope Agapetus I to establish a library of Greek and Latin texts that were intended to support a Christian school in Rome.

James O'Donnell notes:

[I]t is almost indisputable that he accepted advancement in 523 as the immediate successor of Boethius, who was then falling from grace after less than a year as magister officiorum, and who was sent to prison and later executed. In addition, Boethius' father-in-law (and step-father) Symmachus, by this time a distinguished elder statesman, followed Boethius to the block within a year. All this was a result of the worsening split between the ancient senatorial aristocracy centered in Rome and the adherents of Gothic rule at Ravenna. But to read Cassiodorus' Variae one would never suspect such goings-on.[12]

There is no mention in Cassiodorus' selection of official correspondence of the death of Boethius.

Athalaric died in early 534, and the remainder of Cassiodorus' public career was dominated by the Byzantine reconquest and dynastic intrigue among the Ostrogoths. His last letters were drafted in the name of Vitiges. Around 537–38, he left Italy for Constantinople, from where his successor was appointed; Cassiodorus remained in the eastern capital for almost two decades, concentrating on religious questions. He notably met Junillus, the quaestor of Justinian I there. His Constantinopolitan journey contributed to the improvement of his religious knowledge.

Cassiodorus spent his career trying to bridge the 6th-century cultural divides: between East and West, Greek culture and Latin, Roman and Goth, and between an orthodox people and their Arian rulers. He speaks fondly in his Institutiones of Dionysius Exiguus, the calculator of the Anno Domini era.

In his retirement, he founded the monastery of Vivarium[8] on his family estates on the shores of the Ionian Sea, and his writings turned to religion.

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Catanzaro

Catanzaro

Catanzaro, also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabria.

Calabria

Calabria

Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. With almost 2 million residents across a total area of approximately 15,222 km2 (5,877 sq mi), it is the tenth most populous and the tenth largest Italian region by area. Catanzaro is the region's capital, while Reggio Calabria is the most populous city in the region.

Italy

Italy

Italy, officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it consists of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands; its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. It has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione, and some islands in the African Plate. Italy covers an area of 301,230 km2 (116,310 sq mi), with a population of about 60 million. It is the third-most populous member state of the European Union, the sixth-most populous country in Europe, and the tenth-largest country in the continent by land area. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome.

Comes sacrarum largitionum

Comes sacrarum largitionum

The comes sacrarum largitionum was one of the senior fiscal officials of the late Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire.

Comes rerum privatarum

Comes rerum privatarum

In the Roman Empire during late antiquity, the comes rerum privatarum, literally "count of the private fortune", was the official charged with administering the estates of the emperor. He did not administer public lands, although the distinction between the emperor's private property and state property was not always clear or consistently applied. The comes collected rents, handled sales of movable and immovable property, protected the estates from usurpation and accepted lands that came to the emperor by way of grant, bequest, confiscation or forfeiture. Vacant lands and heirless property both escheated to the emperor.

Quaestor sacri palatii

Quaestor sacri palatii

The quaestor sacri palatii, in English: Quaestor of the Sacred Palace, was the senior legal authority in the late Roman Empire and early Byzantium, responsible for drafting laws. In the later Byzantine Empire, the office of the quaestor was altered and it became a senior judicial official for the imperial capital, Constantinople. The post survived until the 14th century, albeit only as an honorary title.

Magister officiorum

Magister officiorum

The magister officiorum was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called magistros (μάγιστρος), until it disappeared in the 12th century.

Athalaric

Athalaric

Athalaric was the king of the Ostrogoths in Italy between 526 and 534. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuntha, the youngest daughter of Theoderic the Great, whom Athalaric succeeded as king in 526.

Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Byzantine Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the last exarch was executed by the Lombards in 751. Although it is an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, with eight buildings comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna".

Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

The praetorian prefect was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides. Under Constantine I, the office was much reduced in power and transformed into a purely civilian administrative post, while under his successors, territorially-defined praetorian prefectures emerged as the highest-level administrative division of the Empire. The prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name. In this role, praetorian prefects continued to be appointed by the Eastern Roman Empire until the reign of Heraclius in the 7th century AD, when wide-ranging reforms reduced their power and converted them to mere overseers of provincial administration. The last traces of the prefecture disappeared in the Byzantine Empire by the 840s.

Pope Agapetus I

Pope Agapetus I

Pope Agapetus I was the bishop of Rome from 13 May 535 to his death. His father, Gordianus, was a priest in Rome and he may have been related to two popes, Felix III and Gregory I.

Latin

Latin

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars supplanted it in common academic and political usage. For most of the time it was used, it would be considered a "dead language" in the modern linguistic definition; that is, it lacked native speakers, despite being used extensively and actively.

Monastery at Vivarium

Vivarium from the Bamberg manuscript of the Institutiones Patr. 61, fol. 29v
Vivarium from the Bamberg manuscript of the Institutiones Patr. 61, fol. 29v

Cassiodorus' Vivarium "monastery school"[13] was composed of two main buildings: a coenobitic monastery and a retreat, for those who desired a more solitary life. Both were located on the site of the modern Santa Maria de Vetere near Squillace. The twin structure of Vivarium was to permit coenobitic monks and hermits to coexist. The Vivarium appears not to have been governed by a strict monastic rule, such as that of the Benedictine Order. Rather Cassiodorus' work Institutiones was written to guide the monks' studies. To this end, the Institutiones focus largely on texts assumed to have been available in Vivarium's library. The Institutiones seem to have been composed over a lengthy period of time, from the 530s into the 550s, with redactions up to the time of Cassiodorus' death. Cassiodorus composed the Institutiones as a guide for introductory learning of both "divine" and "secular" writings, in place of his formerly planned Christian school in Rome:

I was moved by divine love to devise for you, with God's help, these introductory books to take the place of a teacher. Through them I believe that both the textual sequence of Holy Scripture and also a compact account of secular letters may, with God's grace, be revealed.[14]

The first section of the Institutiones deals with Christian texts, and was intended to be used in combination with the Expositio Psalmorum. The order of subjects in the second book of the Institutiones reflected what would become the Trivium and Quadrivium of medieval liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. While he encouraged study of secular subjects, Cassiodorus clearly considered them useful primarily as aids to the study of divinity, much in the same manner as St. Augustine. Cassiodorus' Institutiones thus attempted to provide what Cassiodorus saw as a well-rounded education necessary for a learned Christian, all in uno corpore, as Cassiodorus put it.[15]

The library at Vivarium was still active c. 630, when the monks brought the relics of Saint Agathius from Constantinople, dedicating to him a spring-fed fountain shrine that still exists.[16] However, its books were later dispersed, the Codex Grandior of the Bible being purchased by the Anglo-Saxon Ceolfrith when he was in Italy in 679–80, and taken by him to Wearmouth Jarrow, where it served as the source for the copying of the Codex Amiatinus, which was then brought back to Italy by the now aged Ceolfrith.[17] Despite the demise of the Vivarium, Cassiodorus' work in compiling classical sources and presenting a sort of bibliography of resources would prove extremely influential in Late Antique Western Europe.[18]

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Vivarium (monastery)

Vivarium (monastery)

The Vivarium was a monastery, library, and biblical studies center founded c. 544 by Cassiodorus near Squillace, in Calabria, Italy. Cassiodorus also established a biblical studies center on the Bible and a library inside. It became a place of preservation for classical Greek and Latin literature.

Monastic school

Monastic school

Monastic schools were, along with cathedral schools, the most important institutions of higher learning in the Latin West from the early Middle Ages until the 12th century. Since Cassiodorus's educational program, the standard curriculum incorporated religious studies, the Trivium, and the Quadrivium. In some places monastic schools evolved into medieval universities which eventually largely superseded both institutions as centers of higher learning.

Squillace

Squillace

Squillace is an ancient town and comune, in the Province of Catanzaro, part of Calabria, southern Italy, facing the Gulf of Squillace.

Monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism by living a monastic lifestyle, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicate their life to serving other people and serving God, or to be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live their life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions and in philosophy.

Quadrivium

Quadrivium

From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the quadrivium was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in the trivium, consisting of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Together, the trivium and the quadrivium comprised the seven liberal arts, and formed the basis of a liberal arts education in Western society until gradually displaced as a curricular structure by the studia humanitatis and its later offshoots, beginning with Petrarch in the 14th century. The seven classical arts were considered "thinking skills" and were distinguished from practical arts, such as medicine and architecture.

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, and Confessions.

Agathius

Agathius

Saint Agathius, also known as Acacius of Byzantium, Achatius, or Agathonas to Christian tradition, was a Cappadocian Greek centurion of the imperial army, martyred around 304. A church existed in Constantinople associated with Acacius and possibly named after him: the Church of St Acacius.

Codex Grandior

Codex Grandior

The Codex Grandior was a large single-volume copy of the Bible in an Old Latin translation that was made for or by Cassiodorus. It was one of a number of works held at his monastic foundation Vivarium, near Squillace, Italy.

Bible

Bible

The Bible is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthology – a compilation of texts of a variety of forms – originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text can vary.

Ceolfrith

Ceolfrith

Saint Ceolfrid was an Anglo-Saxon Christian abbot and saint. He is best known as the warden of Bede from the age of seven until his death in 716. He was the Abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, and a major contributor to the project to produce the Codex Amiatinus Bible. He died in Burgundy while en route to deliver a copy of the codex to Pope Gregory II in Rome.

Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey

Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Monkwearmouth–Jarrow, known simply as Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey, was a Benedictine double monastery in the Kingdom of Northumbria, England.

Codex Amiatinus

Codex Amiatinus

The Codex Amiatinus is considered the best-preserved manuscript of the Latin Vulgate version of the Christian Bible. It was produced around 700 in the northeast of England, at the Benedictine Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey in the Kingdom of Northumbria, now South Tyneside, and taken to Italy as a gift for Pope Gregory II in 716. It was one of three giant single-volume Bibles then made at Monkwearmouth–Jarrow, and is the earliest complete one-volume Latin Bible to survive, only the León palimpsest being older; and the oldest Bible where all the biblical canon present what would be their Vulgate texts.

Educational philosophy

Cassiodorus devoted much of his life to supporting education within the Christian community at large. When his proposed theological university in Rome was denied, he was forced to re-examine his entire approach to how material was learned and interpreted.[19] His Variae show that, like Augustine of Hippo, Cassiodorus viewed reading as a transformative act for the reader. It is with this in mind that he designed and mandated the course of studies at the Vivarium, which demanded an intense regimen of reading and meditation. By assigning a specific order of texts to be read, Cassiodorus hoped to create the discipline necessary within the reader to become a successful monk. The first work in this succession of texts would be the Psalms, with which the untrained reader would need to begin because of its appeal to emotion and temporal goods.[20] By examining the rate at which copies of his Psalmic commentaries were issued, it is fair to assess that, as the first work in his series, Cassiodorus's educational agenda had been implemented to some degree of success.[20]

Beyond demanding the pursuit of discipline among his students, Cassiodorus encouraged the study of the liberal arts. He believed these arts were part of the content of the Bible, and some mastery of them—especially grammar and rhetoric—necessary for a complete understanding of it.[20] These arts were divided into trivium (which included rhetoric, idioms, vocabulary and etymology) and quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. He also encouraged the Benedictine monks to study the medical texts of that era, the known herbals and texts of Hippocrates, Dioscorides and Galen.[21]

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Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, and Confessions.

Psalms

Psalms

The Book of Psalms, also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, ψαλμοί, meaning "instrumental music" and, by extension, "the words accompanying the music". The book is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many are linked to the name of David, but modern mainstream scholarship rejects his authorship, instead attributing the composition of the psalms to various authors writing between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. In the Quran, the Arabic word ‘Zabur’ is used for the Psalms of David in the Hebrew Bible.

Quadrivium

Quadrivium

From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the quadrivium was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in the trivium, consisting of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Together, the trivium and the quadrivium comprised the seven liberal arts, and formed the basis of a liberal arts education in Western society until gradually displaced as a curricular structure by the studia humanitatis and its later offshoots, beginning with Petrarch in the 14th century. The seven classical arts were considered "thinking skills" and were distinguished from practical arts, such as medicine and architecture.

Hippocrates

Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Kos, also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referred to as the "Father of Medicine" in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field, such as the use of prognosis and clinical observation, the systematic categorization of diseases, or the formulation of humoral theory. The Hippocratic school of medicine revolutionized ancient Greek medicine, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields with which it had traditionally been associated, thus establishing medicine as a profession.

Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, often Anglicized as Galen or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher with Roman citizenship. Considered to be one of the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.

Classical connections

Cassiodorus is rivalled only by Boethius in his drive to preserve and explore classical literature during the 6th century AD.[22][23] He found the writings of the Greeks and Romans valuable for their expression of higher truths where other arts failed.[20] Though he saw these texts as vastly inferior to the perfect word of Scripture, the truths presented in them played to Cassiodorus' educational principles. Thus he is unafraid to cite Cicero alongside sacred text, and acknowledge the classical ideal of good being part of the practice of rhetoric.[20]

His love for classical thought also influenced his administration of Vivarium. Cassiodorus connected deeply with Christian neoplatonism, which saw beauty as concomitant with the Good. This inspired him to adjust his educational program to support the aesthetic enhancement of manuscripts within the monastery, something which had been practiced before, but not in the universality that he suggests.[24]

Classical learning would by no means replace the role of Scripture within the monastery; it was intended to augment the education already under way. It is also worth noting that all Greek and Roman works were heavily screened to ensure only proper exposure to text, fitting with the rest of the structured learning.[25]

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Lasting impact

Cassiodorus' legacy is quietly profound. Before the founding of Vivarium, the copying of manuscripts had been a task reserved for either inexperienced or physically infirm devotees, and was performed at the whim of literate monks. Through the influence of Cassiodorus, the monastic system adopted a more vigorous, widespread, and regular approach to reproducing documents within the monastery.[26] This approach to the development of the monastic lifestyle was perpetuated especially through German religious institutions.[26]

This change in daily life also became associated with a higher purpose: the process was not merely associated with disciplinary habit, but also with the preservation of history.[27] During Cassiodorus' lifetime, theological study was on the decline and classical writings were disappearing. Even as the victorious Ostrogoth armies remained in the countryside, they continued to pillage and destroy Christian relics in Italy.[22] Cassiodorus' programme helped ensure that both classical and Christian literature were preserved through the Middle Ages.

Despite his contributions to monastic order, literature, and education, Cassiodorus' labors were not well acknowledged. After his death he was only partially recognized by historians of the age, including Bede, as an obscure supporter of the Church. In their descriptions of Cassiodorus, medieval scholars have been documented to change his name, profession, place of residence, and even his religion.[22] Some chapters from his works have been copied into other texts, suggesting that he may have been read, but not generally known.[25]

The works not assigned as a part of Cassiodorus' educational program must be examined critically. Because he had been working under the newly dominant power of the Ostrogoths, the writer demonstrably alters the narrative of history for the sake of protecting himself. The same could easily be said about his ideas, which were presented as non-threatening in their approach to peaceful meditation and its institutional isolationism.[28]

Works

  • Laudes (very fragmentary published panegyrics on public occasions)
  • Chronica (ending at 519), uniting all world history in one sequence of rulers, a union of Goth and Roman antecedents, flattering Goth sensibilities as the sequence neared the date of composition
  • Gothic History (526–533), a lengthy and multi-volume work, survives only in Jordanes' abridgment Getica, which must be considered a separate work and is the only surviving ancient work about the Goths' early history
  • Variae epistolae (537), Theoderic's state papers. Editio princeps by M. Accurius (1533). English translations by Thomas Hodgkin The Letters of Cassiodorus (1886); S.J.B. Barnish Cassiodorus: Variae (Liverpool: University Press, 1992) ISBN 0-85323-436-1
  • Expositio psalmorum (Exposition of the Psalms)
  • De anima ("On the Soul") (540)
  • Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum (543–555)
  • De artibus ac disciplinis liberalium litterarum ("On the Liberal Arts")
  • Codex Grandior (a version of the Bible)
  • De orthographia (c. 580), a compilation of the works of eight grammarians to act as a guide to proper spelling. It is the last known work by Cassiodorus, completed when he was 93 years old.[29][30]
  • Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome co-produced with Epiphanius Scholasticus

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Panegyric

Panegyric

A panegyric is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.

Jordanes

Jordanes

Jordanes, also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (Romana) and the other on the Goths (Getica). The latter, along with Isidore of Seville's Historia Gothorum, is one of only two extant ancient works dealing with the early history of the Goths.

Getica

Getica

De origine actibusque Getarum, commonly abbreviated Getica, written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the origin and history of the Gothic people, which is now lost. However, the extent to which Jordanes actually used the work of Cassiodorus is unknown. It is significant as the only remaining contemporaneous resource that gives an extended account of the origin and history of the Goths, although to what extent it should be considered history or origin mythology is a matter of dispute.

Goths

Goths

The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe.

Editio princeps

Editio princeps

In classical scholarship, the editio princeps of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by hand in order to circulate.

Thomas Hodgkin (historian)

Thomas Hodgkin (historian)

Thomas Hodgkin, FBA was a British historian, biographer, banker, and Quaker minister. Hodgkin's magnum opus, Italy and Her Invaders, was an eight-volume work on the history of the wars in the Late Roman Empire.

Codex Grandior

Codex Grandior

The Codex Grandior was a large single-volume copy of the Bible in an Old Latin translation that was made for or by Cassiodorus. It was one of a number of works held at his monastic foundation Vivarium, near Squillace, Italy.

Bible

Bible

The Bible is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthology – a compilation of texts of a variety of forms – originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text can vary.

Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome

Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome

Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome, the abridged history of the early Christian Church known as the Tripartite History, was the standard manual of Church history in Medieval Europe.

Epiphanius Scholasticus

Epiphanius Scholasticus

Epiphanius Scholasticus was a sixth-century translator of Greek works into Latin.

Source: "Cassiodorus", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 26th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiodorus.

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References
  1. ^ "Pre-13th Century". Hagiography Circle. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Pre-13th Century". Hagiography Circle. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Pre-13th Century". Hagiography Circle. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  4. ^ O'Donnell, James J. (1995). "Chronology". Cassiodorus.
  5. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cassiodorus". Encyclopædia Britannica. 5. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 459-460.
  6. ^ Nicholson, Oliver (2018-04-19). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-256246-3.
  7. ^ Christensen, Arne Søby (2002). Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths: Studies in a Migration Myth. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-7289-710-3.
  8. ^ a b c Frassetto 2003, p. 103.
  9. ^ Barnish, Samuel James Beeching. "Cassiodorus". Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.).
  10. ^ Thomas Hodgkin, Letters Of Cassiodorus, (Oxford, 1886), introduction
  11. ^ Cf., e.g., F. Denis de Sainte-Marthe: La vie de Cassiodore, chancelier et premier ministre de Theoderic le Grand. Paris 1694 (online, in French)
  12. ^ "Cassiodorus: Chapter 1, Backgrounds and Some Dates". faculty.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  13. ^ Jean Leclerq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, 2nd revised edition (New York: Fordham, Fordham University Press, 1977) 25.
  14. ^ Institutions, trans. James W. Halporn and Mark Vessey, Cassiodorus: Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning and On the Soul, TTH 42 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004)I.1, 105.
  15. ^ Halporn and Vessey, Cassiodorus: Institutions, 68.
  16. ^ Select Abstracts
  17. ^ Maria Makepeace, http://www.florin.ms/pandect.html
  18. ^ Halporn and Vessey, Cassiodorus: Institutions, 66.
  19. ^ Wand, JWC. A History of the Early Church. Methuen & Co. Ltd. (Norwich: 1937)
  20. ^ a b c d e Astell, Ann W. (1999). "Cassiodorus's "Commentary on the Psalms" as an "Ars Rhetorica"". Rhetorica. XVII (Winter, 1999): 37–73. doi:10.1525/rh.1999.17.1.37.
  21. ^ Deming, David (2012). Science and Technology in World History. McFarland. p. 87.
  22. ^ a b c Jones, Leslie W. (1945). "The Influence of Cassiodorus on Medieval Culture". Speculum. XX (October, 1945): 433–442. doi:10.2307/2856740. JSTOR 2856740. S2CID 162038478.
  23. ^ General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, Boethius and Cassiodorus. Internet. Available from "General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 12 March 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-12-28. Retrieved 2008-04-30.; accessed June 21, 2011.
  24. ^ "Cassiodorus' Institutes and Christian Book Selection". The Journal of Library History. I (April, 1966): 89–100.
  25. ^ a b "The Value and Influence of Cassiodorus's Ecclesiastical History". The Harvard Theological Review. XLI (January, 1948): 51–67.
  26. ^ a b Rand, E. K. (1938). "The New Cassiodorus by EK Rand". Speculum. XIII (October, 1938): 433–447. doi:10.2307/2849664. JSTOR 2849664. S2CID 161690186.
  27. ^ Pergoli Campanelli, Alessandro (2013). Cassiodoro alle origini dell'idea di restauro. Milano: Jaca Book. p. 140. ISBN 978-88-16-41207-1.
  28. ^ "Cassiodorus as Patricius and ex Patricio". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. XLI (1990): 499–503.
  29. ^ O'Donnell, James J. (1995). "Cassiodorus – Chapter 7: Old Age and Afterlives". Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  30. ^ "Cassiodorus | Historian, Statesman, and Monk". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
Sources
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Preceded by Roman consul
514
Succeeded by
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