Selected Letters of Cassiodorus

M. Shane Bjornlie is Associate Professor of Roman and Late Antique History in the Department of History at Claremont McKenna College.

• MapsIntroduction Cassiodorus, the Variae, and Their WorldThe Variae as a Letter CollectionA Note on the Present TranslationChronology of Key EventsIndictional Years Relative to Cassiodorus's Tenure in Public OfficesSection I. Sixth-Century Italy in a Wider World: Diplomatic Letters from the Ostrogothic Court to the Eastern Imperial and Western "Barbarian" CourtsSection II. The Senate in Public Life and Public Office: Letters to the Senate, Letters to Individual Senators, and Letters Announcing the Appointment of Senators to OfficeSection III. Civil Bureaucracy and Administration in Italy: Letters Describing Activities of the Court Bureaucracy and Letters of Appointment to Bureaucratic PostsSection IV. Taxes and Finances: Letters Describing Fiscal Organization and the Collection and Distribution of State ResourcesSection V. Administration of the Provinces: Letters Concerned with Ostrogothic Affairs in Regions outside ItalySection VI. Goths and the Military: Letters concerning Gothic Settlement and the Organization of the MilitarySection VII. Urban Life: Letters Describing Attention to the Urban EnvironmentSection VIII. Rural Life: Letters concerning People in the Countryside and Their Obligations to the StateSection IX. Religion: Letters to Bishops and Letters Touching upon the Court's Spiritual Sentiments and Involvement in Religious MattersSection X. Family and Gender: Letters concerning Households and Relations between Family Members and Letters to WomenSection XI. Law, Order, and Conflict: Letters Describing the Court's Approach to Criminal Charges against IndividualsSection XII. Intellectual Culture: Letters Pertaining to Aspects of Late-Antique Intellectual CultureSection XIII. Nature: Letters That Provide Literary Perspectives on the Natural WorldGlossaryConcordance of Letters Cited in This VolumeSelected Bibliography of Related ReadingIndex of IndividualsIndex of Concepts, Peoples, and TermsIndex of Places

"Bjornlie makes the material as readable as it’s ever going to be. . . . We need reliable, well-annotated translations, and products of this quality should be recognised as the original contributions they are. A formidable and committed translator, Cassiodorus would surely agree."