{{Short description|Scholarly monastery of Cassiodorus, 544-}} [[File:Bamberg.Cassiodor Vivarium.jpg|thumb|Depiction of Vivarium in an 8th-century manuscript of Cassiodorus' ''Institutiones'']] The '''Vivarium''' was a monastery founded around the year 544 by the Roman statesman [[Cassiodorus]] near [[Squillace]], in [[Calabria]], [[Italy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cassiodorus#ref4957 |title=Cassiodorus |website=Britannica |access-date=January 13, 2023}}</ref> He also established a biblical studies center as well as a library. It became a place where scholars worked on preserving Greek and Latin classical literature.<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=167 |title=Cassiodorus Founds the Scriptorium and Library at the Vivarium |date=2015 |website=History of Information |access-date=January 13, 2023}}</ref> Cassiodorus donated his land to the community of Squillace so that the ‘Vivarium’ could be built there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cassiodoro.it/il-testamento-di-cassiodoro/|title=Il testamento di Cassiodor|access-date=December 23, 2020|language=it}}</ref> Having acquired the Roman noble title of ''[[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricius]]'' in 507, his family had become one of the most powerful in Italy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iluoghidicassiodoro.it/cassiodoro-/|title=Cassiodoro|access-date=December 23, 2020|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208084606/http://www.iluoghidicassiodoro.it/cassiodoro-/}}</ref>
In 540, Cassiodorus retired from public life and moved into the monastery, ordering the [[Benedictines|Benedictine monks]] living there to learn about medicinal herbs and to copy various medical texts, supposedly including works of [[Galen]], [[Hippocrates]] and of the pharmacist [[Dioscorides]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Jeremiah |last=Hackett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gy3Vp7TurVUC&pg=PA340 |title=Roger Bacon and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays 1996 |page=340 |publisher=Brill |year=1997 |location=Leiden; New York |isbn=9789004100152 |series=Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters / Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters|volume =57 |oclc=1008634975|access-date=April 13, 2022 |quote=...he had a number of medical texts, including works attributed (perhaps wrongly) to Galen, [[Hippocrates]] and of the pharmacist [[Dioscorides]]}}</ref>
The immense devastation caused by the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]] had endangered the survival not only of classical and pagan literature, but even of Christian literature, due to the systematic destruction not only of libraries, but in many cases also of the cities that had hosted them until that moment. In war-torn Italy, even the scriptoria where the manuscripts were produced had been decimated. Under the guidance of Cassiodorus, a long process of transcription and translation of Latin and Greek texts began, with the aim of saving them and then passing them on.<ref>Alessandro Pergoli Campanelli, ''Cassiodoro alle origini dell'idea di restauro'', Jaca Book, Milano 2013. {{OCLC|876678915}}</ref>
Cassiodorus commissioned various Greek scholars, including Musonius and [[Epiphanius Scholasticus]], to translate Greek works of a historical and theological nature, which were widely circulated during the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Storia d'Italia|volume=1|author=[[Cesare Balbo]]|publisher=G. Pomba|year=1830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHkKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA238|page=238|language=it|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/epifanio-scolastico_(Enciclopedia-Italiana) Epifanio Scolastico], ''[[Treccani]]''.</ref>
Although an approach to the Christian faith can be seen in Cassiodorus's later works (consider ''De anima'' and ''Expositio Psalmorum''),<ref>{Cassiodoro, ''Expositio Psalmorum'', praef 1-5.</ref> the Vivarium monastery was founded with a different purpose from the famous ''[[ora et labora]]'': the main objective of the monastic centre was in fact the copying, conservation, writing and study of the volumes containing texts of the classics and Western [[patristics]],<ref name=Card140>{{cite book|author=[[Franco Cardini]]|title=Cassiodoro il Grande: Roma, i barbari e il monachesimo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-rqqShkHVwC|publisher=Jaca Book|year=2009|isbn=978-88-16-40925-5|language=it}}</ref> that had been saved from the devastation of the barbarian peoples. The monks also received instruction in philosophy, theology and the classics ([[ancient Greek]] and [[Latin language|Latin]]) directly from Cassiodorus. The characteristic of the Vivarium was therefore its function as a Middle Age ''[[scriptorium]]'', with the related problems of finding materials, studying writing techniques and economic difficulties; the codices and manuscripts produced in the monastery achieved considerable fame and were in great demand.<ref name=Card140 />
The monastery was to be organised like the hermitage of [[Montecastello]], populated by [[Anchorite]] monks with previous experience of [[cenobitic life]].<ref>Cardini (2009), p. 143</ref> The ''[[studium generale|studium]]'' aimed to reproduce the [[School of Alexandria]]<ref>{{cite book|language=ca|author=[[Alain de Libera]]|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXN4UGMwevkC&pg=PA215|chapter=L'alta edat mitjana|title=La filosofia medieval|publisher=[[University of Valencia]]|page=215|year=2007|isbn=9788437065595|oclc=1055296563|via=Google Books}}</ref> and that of [[School of Nisibis|Nisibis]], where in those years [[Junilius Africanus]] had translated the commentary on the Bible by [[Paul the Persian|Paul of Nisibis]] from [[Syriac language|Syriac]] to Latin.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Arnaldo Momigliano]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6s2JXFsuXF8C&pg=PA498|pages=497–498|title=Sesto contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico|volume=1|publisher=Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura|language=it|location=Rome|year=1980|series=Raccolta di studi e testi|issue= 149}}</ref>
The complex has been located in the San Martino district, 1 km from the Alessi stream,<ref name="lezioni">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjrFSylGNNsC&pg=PA23|title=Lezioni di letteratura calabrese|page=23|publisher=Luigi Pellegrini Editore|location=Cleto (CS)|isbn=8881012596|date=January 2005|language=it}}</ref> not far from the main sea routes to [[Africa]], [[Spain]], [[Crotone]], [[Greece]] and [[Constantinople]], and not far from the road that connected [[Rome]] to the north with the roads to [[Reggio Calabria]] and [[Sicily]]. It was a shelter for pilgrims and a hospital for the sick who came there from all over the region. In addition to the ''studium'' and the ''scriptorium'', it housed a well-stocked library and a counter for the sale of manuscripts. In some cases, copies and revised editions were used to finance the activities of the Vivarium.<ref name="OCLC_1157988802">{{Cite book|author=Andrea Antonioli|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWixDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT50|page=50|title=I grandi personaggi che hanno cambiato l'Italia del Medioevo|language=it|publisher=Newton Compton Editori|location=Rome|date=October 10, 2019|isbn=9788822737700|oclc=1157988802|via=Google Books}}</ref> The combination of ‘studium’ and a library represented an absolute novelty in the Italian Middle Ages.<ref name="lezioni"/>
Vivarium's strategic location favoured the flow of foodstuffs cultivated ''[[in loco]]'', of pilgrims and of manuscripts to and from Italy and the Orient.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGHp-Q_1D9QC&pg=PT7|title=Praestante Domino, auctores liberalium litterarum collegimus|pages=14–15|isbn=9788672448320|access-date=December 23, 2020}}</ref> The monastery took care of tilling various deserted areas and providing the surrounding population with the benefits of a higher material culture. For the first time, sacred and profane texts were collected together, paying a certain philological attention to keeping the original editions distinct from the subsequent amendments and corrections.<ref name="OCLC_1157988802" />
The library was extremely well-stocked for those times: it contained pagan and Christian works, in Latin and Greek. The codices, some of which were extremely valuable, were classified and arranged according to subject. Obviously, as it was a monastery, the Holy Scriptures were given pride of place; next to them were the 22 books of the ''[[Jewish Antiquities]]'' and hundreds of others dealing with Christianity. The library was enriched by a selection of significant texts from classical and Hellenistic science, including many books on cosmography: the works of [[Julius Honorius]], [[Marcellinus Comes|Marmellinus Illyricus]], or the famous codex of [[Ptolemy]]. These were followed by works on philosophy and agriculture, to help the monks become skilled farmers: among these, the treatises of [[Quintus Gargilius Martialis]], [[Lucius Columella|Columella]] and [[Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius|Aemilianus]] are particularly noteworthy. For the monks in charge of medical care there were works by Hippocrates, [[Caelius Aurelianus]], therapeutics by Galen and the herbal by [[Dioscorides]]. There was no lack of works by [[Aristotle]], in the recent Latin translation by [[Boethius]].
After Cassiodorus' death, the manuscripts housed here were dispersed, some making their way to the [[Lateran Palace]].<ref name="history" /> Vivarium's activity had an enormous influence on Europe during the early Middle Ages.<ref>James W. Halporn e Mark Vessey (traduttori), ''Cassiodorus: Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning and On the Soul'', TTH 42, [[Liverpool University Press]], 2004, p. 66.</ref> Before the foundation of the Vivarium, copying manuscripts was a task reserved for inexperienced or physically infirm clerics, and carried out at the whim of literate monks. Thanks to the influence of Cassiodorus, the monastic system adopted a more rigorous, widespread and regular approach to the reproduction of documents, seen as an integral part of the monastery's activity.<ref name="NewCass">{{Cite journal|title=The New Cassiodorus|journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]]|volume=XIII|date=October 1938|pages=433–447|doi=10.2307/2849664|jstor=2849664 |language=it |last1=Rand |first1=E. K. |issue=4 }}</ref> This approach to the development of the monastic lifestyle was mainly handed down through Germanic religious institutions.<ref name="NewCass" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Franco Cardini, ''Cassiodorus the Great. Rome, barbarians and monasticism'', Milan, Jaca Book, 2009. * Luciana Cuppo Csaki, ''Contra voluntatem fundatorum: the monasterium Vivariense Cassiodorus after 575'' in: ''ACTA XIII Congressus Internationalis Archaeologiae Christianae'' (Vatican City, Split 1998) vol. II, pp. 551–586. * Luciana Cuppo Csaki, ''The Monastery of Cassiodorus Vivariense: reconnaissance and research'', 1994-1999, in: ''Frühes Rom und zwischen Christentum Konstantinopel'', Akten des XIV. Internationalen Kongresses für Christliche Archäologie, Wien 19.-26. 9. 1999, Herausgegeben von R. Harreither, Ph. Pergola, R. Pillinger, A. Pulz (Wien, 2006) pp. 301–316. *Irwin, Raymond. “VII. Cassiodorus Senator.” ''The Heritage of the English Library.'' Vol. 1. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Group, 2021. *Rand, E. K. “The New Cassiodorus.” ''Speculum'' 13.4 (1938): 433–447. *Souter, A. “Cassiodorus’ Library at Vivarium: Some Additions." ''Journal of theological studies'' os-XLI.161 (1940): 46–47 * Fabio Troncarelli, ''Vivarium. The books, the fate'', Turnhout: Brepols, 1998.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivarium}} [[Category:Monasteries in Italy]] [[Category:544 establishments]] [[Category:540s establishments]] [[Category:6th-century religious buildings and structures]] [[Category:6th-century establishments in Italy]] [[Category:Monastic libraries]]