Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus

What a name (and what a guy). Read this to find out more about one of the most important (yet little-known) people in Communication history.

Life
Works

Monastery 117k
Portrait 81k

Communication
Writing
Timeline
Language

Cassiodorus Page
James O'Donnell's
Cassiodorus page (thanks to him for the pictures).

Life

Cassiodorus, a benedictine monk, was born around 490 in Italy. When the Ostrogoths reigned, he served as secretary to King Theodoric. When the king died in 526, Cassiodorus was minister to his daughter, Amalasuntha, who became the next ruler. Cassiodorus died in 570.

Works

He wrote History of the Goths, a collection of letters, and founded the monastery of Vivarium. His most important accomplishment, however, was being responsible for the translation and preservation of many ancient and Christian manuscripts which would have otherwise been lost. He believed that we needed knowledge of the classics to understand the Bible. The preservation of all classical Latin texts is due to him.

Monastery
Cassiodorus' monastery at Vivarium.
(for a larger version of this image, click on "monastary" at the
left under "Pictures".)

Cassiodorus
This is supposed to be a portrait of Ezra, but many
scholars believe that it is actually a disguised portrait of
Cassiodorus himself.
(for a larger version of this image, click on "portrait" at the left
under "Pictures".)

Sources
Click here for a list of sources used in this project.
Glossary
All the words in bold are found in the Glossary. If you don't understand a word, click on the beside it, to go directly to the Glossary Page.
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