Romana Jordanes

The *Romana* is a Latin book written in the 6th century by Jordanes, serving as a concise history of significant events from creation to the victory of Narses over Teia in AD 552. The work has been published under various titles, including *De Regnorum ac Temporum Successione*, *Liber de origine mundi et actibus Romanorum ceterarumque gentium*, and *De gestis Romanorum*. It is an epitome of earlier historical works, drawing primarily from Jerome, with additional material from Florus and Marcellinus Comes. The *Romana* holds particular value for its coverage of events between 450–550 AD, when Jordanes addresses recent history, as well as accounts of northern barbarian nations and the regions they inhabited.

The book was likely written in Constantinople around 551 or 552 CE for an individual addressed as "nobilissime frater Vigilii," though this is not Pope Vigilius. The first printed edition (*editio princeps*) was produced by Konrad Peutinger in Augsburg in 1515, alongside Jordanes' *Getica* and Paul the Deacon's *Historia Langobardorum*. Early translations include a French version by Drouet de Maupertuy and a Swedish one by J. T. Peringskiold (1719). The authoritative edition remains that of Theodor Mommsen, published in 1882 as part of the *Monumenta Germaniae Historica*, which also established the commonly used titles for Jordanes' works: *Romana* and *Getica*.