Classics in Vivarium

ISBN-13: 9783639045758 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 96 str.

Marijana Vukovic

Opis

The survival of classical books in the Early Middle Ages is a question never-entirely-answered that still tackles our attention. The distinc­tiveness of the classical works was fading at the time of the late antiquity, while Christianity was taking over the primacy and the throne over the society and the civilization. Vivarium was a unique foundation in terms of launching a program of Christian education, enhanced with secular studies. Cassiodorus provided his monks with an opulent library. This library in Vivarium was enriched by both Christian and classical works and was literally the only library en­hanced with the classical authors at the time; other monastic schools of this kind rejected classical writers as well as classical education altogether. In the history of scholarship it was presumed that Cassio­dorus was responsible for the transmission of the books to the posterity and that his role was crucial in this preservation. Still, Cassio­dorus aim was of a different kind. Having not been able to foresee the imminent devastation as well as the sharp edges between the two eras the way we see them today, he could not predict tendencies in neglecting classics.

O autorze

Vukovic, Marijana The author analyzes survival of classical books in the Middle Ages, through the example of a Christian monastery Vivarium, established by Cassiodorus in the sixth-century Italy. Unique in collecting classics, Vivarium was still far from the idealistic image of a refuge for classical lore and followed primarily the pursuits of Christianity.