328 Lozovsky
Encyclopaedic interests of the learned circles included theology, canon law,
and calendric computation, the areas to which Dionysius Exiguus (ca. 470–
544) made a lasting contribution. A monk who worked in Rome between ca.
500 and ca. 540, described by Cassiodorus as a “Scythian by birth but thorougly
Roman in his manner of life”, Dionysius probably came from Scythia Minor, a
region roughly corresponding to today’s Dobruja. His fluency in both Latin and
Greek, especially noted by Cassiodorus, may have resulted from an education
acquired in one of the monasteries there.54
The meagre information that we have about Dionysius suggests that he
shared an educational background and intellectual interests with a number of
Scythian monks known at that time for their orthodoxy and learning as well as
for their involvement in Christological controversies. Dionysius also associated
with other influential and learned people in Italy, including Roman bishops
such as Hormisdas, at whose invitation he compiled his collection of canon-
istic materials; Eugippius to whom he dedicated his translation of Gregory of
Nyssa’s De opificio hominis; and the unnamed noble woman, the dedicatee of
his translation of the Vita Pachomii, identified by scholars as one of the daugh-
ters of Boethius’ father-in-law Symmachus, Galla or Proba.55
Mainly working as a translator, Dionysius left behind a large corpus of work
and two of his intellectual enterprises were to become particularly influential
in the following centuries. Dionysius produced the first comprehensive edition
of canonistic materials, translating the decrees of church councils and a selec-
tion of papal decrees. The Collectio Dionysiana, as it was known in the medieval
West, was included in all subsequent collections and became the foundation
of canon law.56 Dionysius also addressed the need for a Christian calendar, an
important area of knowledge explored by many scholars before and after him.
He compiled a table for calculating the date of Easter, choosing to number the
years at the Birth of Christ. Dionysius’ Incarnation Era was eventually adopted
in the West, although his computations were often challenged in the following
centuries.57
54 Cassiodorus, Institutiones 1.23.2–4, trans. pp. 154–6, at 1.23.2: “Dionisius monachus,
Scytha natione sed moribus omnino Romanus”; Richter, “Dionysius Exiguus”; Dura,
“Denys Exiguus”; Amory, People and Identity, pp. 127–31; Duta, “Des précisions”; Gometz,
“Eugippius”, pp. 225–31.
55 Dura, “Denys Exiguus”, pp. 284–5; De Marini Avonzo, “Secular and Clerical Culture”;
Gometz, “Eugippius”, p. 227; Troncarelli, “Afterword”, p. 531, especially n. 15; Fiery, “Collectio
Dionysiana”.
56 For a comprehensive introduction to the subject see the website “Carolingian Canon Law”
at http://ccl.rch.uky.edu.
57 Moschammer, Easter Computus; Verbist, Duelling With the Past.