Introduction 11
Finally, the age’s artistic and intellectual achievements have always been
central to the study of the Ostrogoths, in large part because of the prominence
of Cassiodorus and Boethius—the two ‘giants’ of Ostrogothic intellectual and
literary history—in western medieval thought. Lozovsky’s chapter offers a
synopsis of their work as well as the contributions of other intellectual figures,
such as Ennodius of Pavia, while Heydemann’s chapter on Ostrogothic ideol-
ogy and the state surveys important developments in political thought by fig-
ures like Cassiodorus. In terms of the visual culture of the Ostrogothic regime,
the ruins of Theoderic’s palace and mausoleum in Ravenna, and the numerous
churches there and in Rome built and/or renovated during the Ostrogothic
period have long fascinated scholars interested in questions about the conti-
nuity of classical artistic forms and techniques, and the emergence of a ‘bar-
barian aesthetic’, the existence of which most scholars (including those in this
volume) tend to question (see Figures 1.3 and 1.4). The chapters by Johnson
and Deliyannis offer foundational syntheses of the period’s major works of art
and architecture along with insights into their relationship to the Ostrogothic’s
regime role as a purveyor of Roman culture.
Figure 1.3 Map of 6th-century Rome
Map by Ian Mladjov