Glossary of Select Sources
The following glossary is a selective guide to the most essential literary sources of rel-
evance to the Ostrogothic kingdom. Individual entries are limited to details of a bio-
graphical or historical nature, descriptions of works and their value, and major issues
of scholarly debate. References to modern scholarship, editions, and translations are
not provided here. Instead, readers are invited to consult the bibliographies of relevant
chapters appearing in this volume.
Acta Synhodorum habitarum Romae A source of great value to the history of Rome,
the Catholic Church, and especially the Laurentian schism, these Acts contain the
minutes and/or subscription lists for a series of synods held in Rome between 499
and 502, as well as related correspondence between members of the church and
King Theoderic.
Agathias of Myrina (ca. 532–80?) A lawyer by training, resident of Constantinople,
and author of poetic works, his Histories in five books was begun during the reign
of Justin II (565–78) as a deliberate continuation of Procopius’ Wars. A chief source
for the years 552–9, the work is concerned primarily with eastern affairs, although
the first two books are invaluable for their treatment of the final years of the Gothic
War in Italy, during which time the general Narses faced a number of local Gothic
revolts and thwarted a major Franco-Alamannic invasion of Italy led by the duces
Butilinus and Leutheris.
Anonymus Valesianus Pars Posterior Also known as the Chronica Theodericiana or
Excerpta Valsesiana II, this is the second of two biographical excerpts originally
edited and published in the 17th century by Henri Valois, whence Valesianus. The
text focuses primarily on events in Italy and to a lesser extent Constantinople
between 474 and 526. Its main area of coverage is the reign of Theoderic, for which
it provides many unique and occasionally fabulous details: some perhaps the prod-
uct of oral tradition; others possibly derived from a source (or sources) close to the
court at Ravenna. Its authorship is unknown and its treatment of certain topics,
particularly the reign of Theoderic, is so bipolar, so repetitive, and so seemingly
contradictory that some scholars have suggested it is the work of multiple authors
or that one author has clumsily combined two (or more) opposing sources. Others
maintain that it is the product of one author whose apparent contradictions were
deliberate. This issue of authorship is further complicated by the fact that the sur-
viving text is an excerpt, as indicated by its 9th-century manuscript heading (Item
ex libris Chronicorum inter cetera) and the absence of anything resembling an
introduction or conclusion. Its date of composition is also uncertain. Some place
it shortly after the death of Theoderic in 526; others as late as the 540s or even 550s.