This article examines a particular aspect of Justinian’s campaigns against the Ostrogoths in Italy, one that is often overlooked, yet one that is essential to the understanding of these wars
Hungary’s Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century
September 1, 2014 By
The Carpathian Basin occupies a peculiar place in history. It was the ground where Roman-Germanic world met that of the Slavs and mounted nomad peoples, where no group had achieved sustained unity before the state of Hungary was founded.
Making a difference in tenth-century politics: King Athelstan’s sisters and Frankish queenship
May 10, 2014 By
In the early years of the tenth century several Anglo-Saxon royal women, all daughters of King Edward the Elder of Wessex (899-924) and sisters (or half-sisters) of his son King Athelstan (924-39), were despatched across the Channel as brides for Frankish and Saxon rulers and aristocrats. This article addresses the fate of some of these women through an analysis of their political identities.
Projecting Power in Sixth-Century Rome: The church of Santi Cosma e Damiano in the late antique Forum Romanum
December 4, 2013 By
In the year 526 CE, the bishop of Rome, Pope Felix IV, petitioned the Ostrogoth king Theoderic for permission to convert a small complex in the Forum Romanum into a place of worship dedicated to the Saints Cosmas and Damian…This paper critiques traditional interpretations of this church—its physical location and its apse mosaic—in light of new research that nuances our understanding of the historical context in which it was commissioned.
![Brick with the emblem of Theodoric, found in the temple of Vesta, Rome. It reads "+REG(nante) D(omino) N(ostro) THEODE/RICO [b]O[n]O ROM(a)E", which translates as With our master Theodoric the Good reigning in Rome [this brick was made].](http://www.medievalists.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Theodoric_brick.png){kind=small}
The Death Toll of Justinian’s Plague and Its Effects on the Byzantine Empire
April 4, 2013 By
In 541 a plague arrived in Egypt and rapidly began to spread. The following account of the beginning of the plague, while clearly an exaggeration still shows the impact of the disease.
West versus East: the Sixth Century Literary Sources and Justinian’s Wars
November 6, 2012 By
Most scholars of the Byzantine empire have given an important role to Justinian’s invasion of Italy during the sixth century – it has been envisioned as a grand reconquest of the West by the East.
Codex Argenteus and political ideology in the Ostrogothic kingdom
July 15, 2012 By
One of the most intriguing manuscripts of late Antiquity, the early-6th – century Codex Argenteus, combines elements typical of lavish Greek and Latin bibles with yet another significant aspect.
The Roman elite and the power of the past: continuity and change in Ostrogothic Italy
March 25, 2012 By
This thesis examines the changes forced upon the Roman elite in the evolving political climate of Ostrogothic Italy.
Byzantines, Goths and Lombards in Italy: Jewellery, Dress and Cultural Interactions
December 5, 2011 By
The temptation is naturally to seek differences or contrasts from one power to another, to reinforce the conflict and tension identified in contemporary historians.
Theoderic, the Goths, and the Restoration of the Roman Empire
October 13, 2011 By
The role of the nobility in the creation of Gallo-Frankish society in the late fifth and sixth centuries AD
October 9, 2011 By
The role of the nobility in the creation of Gallo-Frankish society in the late fifth and sixth centuries AD Wood, Catrin Mair Lewis PhD Thesis, University of Nottingham (2002) Abstract The aim of this dissertation is to explore the contribution made by the nobility, both Gallo-Roman and Frankish, to the creation of a new society after […]
The Ostrogoths in Italy
July 20, 2011 By
The Ostrogoths in Italy By Biagio Saitta Polis: Revista de ideas y formas políticas de la Antigüedad Clásica, Vol. 11 (1999) Introduction: The attempt at Roman-Germanic cohabitation which Odoacer (Odovacar) successfully made between 476 und 489 was taken even further by the Ostrogoths. Coming from the middle Danube, they arrived in Italy with the approval […]
The Edictum Theoderici: A Study of a Roman Legal Document from Ostrogothic Italy
May 26, 2011 By
The Edictum Theoderici: A Study of a Roman Legal Document from Ostrogothic Italy By Sean D.W. Lafferty PhD Dissertation, University of Toronto, 2010 Abstract: This is a study of a Roman legal document of unknown date and debated origin conventionally known as the Edictum Theoderici. Comprised of 154 edicta, or provisions, in addition to a […]
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