Ravenna ostrogota. Considerazioni sull’ultima corte dell’Italia romana, in H. Dey, F. Oppedisano, (eds/a cura di), Justinian’s Legacy. The Last War of Roman Italy . L’eredità di Giustiniano. L’ultima guerra dell’Italia romana, Roma : «L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER, 2024, pp. 155-182

This contribution proposes a comparison between the court of Ravenna in the Gothic age (as known mainly through the Variae of Cassiodorus) and the court of the emperors of the previous century. The differences in the organigram, the disappearance of some offices and the appearance of others, but also the transformation of the functions of some Palatine positions, major and minor, and the evolution of some governing bodies are highlighted. The similarities and differences are also interpreted in the light of the comparison with the contemporary Byzantine court. The court of Theoderic appears in many ways to be in continuity with that of his predecessors (although there are obvious differences, the most noticeable of which in the military sector). It could be seen as a Roman court in which the military branch took over - undermining the monarch - and formalised the primacy it already possessed de facto in the fifth century. But a deeper analysis shows that, behind this picture of apparent formal correspondence, there are substantial dissimilarities: besides the likely numerical reduction of the court staff, there is the changed relationship between the court and the Praetorian prefecture (which is ‘reabsorbed ‘ into the Palace , assuming an almost ‘imperial’ nature: it receives the adoratio; it has its own consistorium); the strong weakening of the cubiculum (especially if compared to what happened in the East); the presence, unfortunately not well defined, of young Germans at the court of the sovereign, which seems to anticipate experiences that will be better defined in later Germanic courts.