ABSTRACT
In669Theodore,aGreek-speakingmonkoriginallyfromTarsusinAsia Minor,arrivedinEnglandtotakeuphisdutiesasarchbishopofCanterbury.! HewasjoinedthefollowingyearbyhiscolleagueHadrian,aLatin-speaking AfricanbyoriginandformerabbotofamonasteryinCampania(near Naples).2OneoftheirfirsttasksatCanterburywastheestablishmentofa school;andaccordingtoBede(writingsomesixtyyearslater),theysoon 'attractedacrowdofstudentsintowhosemindstheydailypouredthestreams ofwholesomelearning'.3Bedegoesontoreport,asevidenceoftheirteaching, thatsomeoftheirstudentswhosurvivedtohisowndaywereasfluentin GreekandLatinasintheirnativelanguage.4Elsewherehenamessomeof
1OnTheodoreingeneralseeG.F.Browne,TheodoreandWiifrith(London,I897),esp.pp.* 8I-99and175-84;M.Deanesly,ThePre-ConquestChurchinEngland,znded.(London, I963),pp.I04-59;W.F.Bolton,AHistoryofAnglo-LatinLiteratureI:!97-740(Princeton, NJ,I967),pp.58-6z;andN.Brooks,TheEarlyHistoryoftheChurchofCanterbury(Leicester, I984),pp.7I-6and94-8.OnTheodore'sallegedtrainingatAthens,seeA.S.Cook, 'TheodoreofTarsusandGislenusofAthens',PQz(I9Z3),I-z5.Itshouldbenotedthat Theodore'spr-esumedtrainingatAthensisbasedonalaterstatementinaletterofPope Zacharias(Ep.lxxx)dated748:'Theodorusgreco-latinusantephilosophusetAthenis eruditusRomaeordinatus'(S.BonifatiietLulliiEpistolae,ed.M.Tang!,MGH,Epist.Sel.I (Berlin,I9I6),I73).AlthoughZachariaswashimselfaGreekbybirth,hisremarkprobably meansnomorethanthatTheodorepossessedsomeGreekliterarytraining.Theodore's GreekbackgroundwouldbetterbeilluminatedbystudyofthevariousEastern(Greekspeaking)monasticcommunitieswhichsettledasrefugeesinRomeinthemid-seventh century,suchasthatattheTreFontane(adaquasSa/vias),whichpreservedrelicsofthe PersianmartyrAnastasius(seebelow,n.z8):seeG.Ferrari,EarlyRomanMonasteries (VaticanCity,I957),pp.33-48,andA.Michel,'DiegriechischenKlostersiedlungenzu RomhiszurMittedesIr.Jahrhunderts',OstkirchlicheStudienI(I95z),3z-45,at4Iandnn. 90and91.
