A rotor for a reluctance machine is provided. The rotor includes a soft magnetic element which is cylindrical in shape. The soft magnetic element has recesses forming flux barriers. At least part of the recesses are filled with an electrically conducting and magnetically non-conducting filler material such that a starting cage is formed in a peripheral region of the rotor. The ratio of the surface of the filled region of the flux barriers to the surface of the region of the unfilled flux barriers is at least 0.2 for at least one rotor cycle.