ABSTRACT
Detecting Dalmatia's identity in Cassiodorus' Variae seems particularly significant, for both the discussed intrinsic characteristics of this crucial sixth-century source and its significance for political communication and languages. It is therefore interesting to show how Cassiodorus' Variae deals with these peripheries of Theodoric's kingdom, defining their own special character and shaping different attitudes and treatments of its dwellers. On the one hand, the support for Athalaric's access to royal power was explicitly asked from the Romans settled in Italia and Dalmatia: in Cassiodorus's hierarchical list they are in the fourth position, just after the emperor Justin, the Roman Senate and the inhabitants of Rome. This care for the Dalmatian territory, its resources and its inhabitants, and, on the other side, the necessity of dealing with irregular behaviour in respect to Gothic rules seems therefore a characteristic that Cassiodorus is stressing in presenting and selecting his letters dedicated to this area.
