Liste di autori nell’opera manualistica di Cassiodoro: le ‘Institutiones’ tra la scuola antica e la bibilioteca di Vivarium

The article traces the historical and cultural conjunctures that led to the genesis of Cassiodorus’ Institutiones divinarum et humanarum litterarum. It evaluates quantity and quality of the authority lists proposed in the two books which form the recensio maior (Omega), but does not neglect to offer remarks regarding the two interpolated draftings called Phi and Delta (lib. II) and the textual sources: they are very useful to reconstruct the cultural milieu where the manual has been shaped. The differences between the first and the second book allow not only to better understand their specific target (the first is a library catalog, the second a curriculum for scholastic use), but also to follow the development of the text along with the evolution of Cassiodorus’ intellectual conscience. Such an evolution is related to the changes that happened during his life, spent among the most important political and cultural centers of the sixth century: Ravenna, Rome, Constantinople and Vivarium.