Resumen de Theoderic and the Roman Imperial Restoration by Jonathan J. Arnold (review)
Against the traditional interpretation of Theoderic “the Great” as a “barbarian” king, ruler of “Ostrogothic Italy,” Jonathan Arnold presents the bold argument that, rather (as the title of the book indicates), Theoderic restored and continued the Roman Empire in the West. In Part IV (“Italia Felix”), he looks at Theoderic’s positive impact on the imperial heartland in attempts to revive the economy, repair infrastructural damage done by decades of warfare, and renovate decayed buildings. The book would have benefitted from a more thorough discussion of these authors’ motivations and from being more critical of their narrative, especially when they align so well with Theoderican propaganda. [...]whereas Arnold rejects Procopius’s testimony for being written for a later Constantinopolitan audience (65–6; 302), the same could be said of Cassiodorus’s Variae, as argued by Shane Bjornlie in an article that appears in Arnold’s bibliography, but which he neglected to integrate into his argument.
