Chronicle (Cassiodorus)

The Chronica , written by the late antique scholar and politician Cassiodorus , is a Latin world chronicle . It ranges from the Christian story of creation through ancient oriental history to the year 519 AD, with the focus on Roman history .

The work, written at the end of 518, is dedicated to the Goth Eutharic (the son-in-law of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric , who had ruled Italy since 489/93 ), who took up the consulate in 519 , which was still extremely prestigious. The chronicle is a brief historical outline of world history from a Roman perspective, with a list of the Roman consuls with almost a thousand names and brief historical comments embedded. It can thus be assigned to the genus of the so-called consularia , which offered compact overview lists, although Cassiodorus himself referred to the apparently commissioned work as Chronica .

Cassiodorus primarily used various late antique chronicles as sources, especially those of Jerome and Prosper Tiro of Aquitaine ; Furthermore, he relied on an epitome of Titus Livius and Aufidius Bassus (directly or, as with Livius, via an intermediate source). A variant of the Consularia Italica was also used, a late antique consular list that was made in Italy. The chronicle is only in two manuscripts from 10/11. Century handed down.

The chronicle is not very productive in terms of content due to the often very brief notes, but not entirely insignificant due to the consular list. It is also representative of Cassiodor's efforts in the transition from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages to bring Roman history into harmony with the new political conditions in Italy, where, after 476, in connection with the upheaval of the Great Migration Period, "barbaric rulers" ruled. The medium used for this (a typical Roman consular list) was certainly chosen deliberately.

Text output

• Theodor Mommsen (Ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 11: Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (II). Berlin 1894, pp. 120–161 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )

literature

• Richard W. Burgess: Cassiodorus. In: Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle Online doi : 10.1163 / 2213-2139_emc_SIM_00420 (with further literature)
• Arne Søby Christensen: Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Studies in a Migration Myth. Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen 2002, p. 57 ff.

Remarks

1. ^ Arne Søby Christensen: Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Studies in a Migration Myth. Copenhagen 2002, p. 58 f.
2. ↑ On the sources Arne Søby Christensen: Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Studies in a Migration Myth. Copenhagen 2002, pp. 58-60. In general, also with references to the tradition, Richard W. Burgess: Cassiodorus. In: Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle Online .
3. ↑ Cf. Cristian Bratu: Chronicles in Medieval Italy - An Overview. In: Gerhard Wolf, Norbert H. Ott (Ed.): Handbook Chronicles of the Middle Ages. Berlin / Boston 2016, p. 707ff., Here p. 711.
4. ↑ Cf. Arne Søby Christensen: Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Studies in a Migration Myth. Copenhagen 2002, p. 60 f.