Politics and Tradition Between Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople
A Study of Cassiodorus and the Variae, 527–554

A revealing study of the Variae of Cassiodorus and the insight that the epistolary collection can provide into sixth-century Italy.

M. Shane Bjornlie (Author)

9781107028401, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 November 2012

386 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.74 kg

'M. Shane Bjornlie explores with a depth of analysis unparalleled in previous studies of Cassiodorus … in his most original contribution, [he] argues that the Variae cannot be understood apart from the themes of political discourse then current in Constantinople, where oblique criticisms of Justinian's autocratic style of rule filled the air. By treating the Variae as a sophisticated literary enterprise written to salvage the tenuous worth of northern Italian palatines during the regime change heralded by the Gothic Wars of Justinian, Bjornlie provides us with new insights both into the rhetorical purpose of this well-known text and into the polemical context that informed its content.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

The Variae of Cassiodorus have long been valued as an epistolary collection offering a window into political and cultural life in a so-called barbarian successor state in sixth-century Italy. However, this study is the first to treat them as more than an assemblage of individual case studies and to analyse the collection's wider historical context. M. Shane Bjornlie highlights the insights the Variae provide into early medieval political, ecclesiastical, fiscal and legal affairs and the influence of the political and military turbulence of Justinian's reconquest of Italy and of political and cultural exchanges between Italy and Constantinople. The book also explores how Cassiodorus revised, updated and assembled the Variae for publication and what this reveals about his motives for publishing an epistolary record and for his own political life at a crucial period of transformation for the Roman world.

Part I. The Variae as Windows onto Painted Curtains: Introduction
1. Cassiodorus and Italy in the fifth and sixth centuries
Part II. Cassiodorus and the Circumstances of Political Survival: 2. The age of bureaucracy
3. The reign of Justinian
4. Voices of discontent in Constantinople
5. The Anicii between Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople
6. The memory of Boethius in the Variae
Part III. Reading the Variae as Political Apologetic: 7. Literary aspects of the Variae
8. Antiquitas and Novitas: the language of good governance in the Variae
9. Natura and Law in Justinian's Novellae and the Variae
10. Reading good governance in the Variae and the De anima
11. The Variae as apologetic narrative
12. Conclusion: innovative traditionalism and its consequence
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History [HB]