MARCELLINO, CONTE. - Born into a noble family in Illyria, he was chancellor to the heir apparent Giustiniano under the emperor Giustino I (518–27).
At Costantinopoli he wrote a Chronicle in Latin covering the years 379–534 of the Eastern Roman Empire. The work was continued to 548 by an unknown author. He made use of Orosio’s Historiae and Gennadio’s De viris illustribus. It is important for the years from 470 onward. He also wrote an itinerary containing topographical information on Costantinopoli and Gerusalemme (v. Cassiodoro, Instit. div. lett., 17: PL 70, 1134).
BIBL.: critical edition by Th. Mommsen: MGH. Auct. antiquis... XI; Chronica minora, II, Berlino 1894, pp. 37–108. Studies: O. Holder-Egger, Die Chronik des Marcellinus Comes und die oströmischen Fasten, in Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtsschwede, 2 (1877), pp. 49–109; P. Courcelle, Les lettres grecques en Occident, Parigi 1943, pp. 354, 374 (on M.’s cosmography in Cassiodoro’s library). Erik Peterson