Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c.490-c.585), commonly known as
Cassiodorus, was a
Roman statesman, writer and
monk. He was born at
Scyllaceum (Squillace) in southern
Italy. During his working life, as a consul under
Theodoric the Great, king of the
Ostrogoths, he wrote on public affairs.
Senator was his surname, not his rank. In his retirement he founded the monastery of
Vivarium, and his writings turned to religion.
- Gothic History (526-533) [surviving only in abridged form]
- Variae epistolae (Theodoric's state papers) (537)
- De anima (On the Soul) (540)
- Institutiones Divinarum et Sęcularium Litterarum (543-555)
- De Artibus ac Disciplinis Liberalium Litterarum (On the Liberal Arts)
- Codex Grandior (a version of the Bible)