Reading Michael Psellos PDF Download

Author: Charles Barber
Publisher: Medieval Mediterranean
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
The papers of this volume highlight the intellectual and literary contribution of Michael Psellos (1018-after 1081?) by offering readings of his original texts from a variety of scholarly perspectives.

Author: Michael Psellus
Publisher: ND Michael Psellos in Translat
ISBN: 9780268100483
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
Michael Psellos has long been known as a key figure in the history of Byzantine literary and intellectual culture, but his theoretical and critical reflections on literature and art are little known outside of a small circle of specialists. Most famous for his Chronographia, a history of eleventh-century Byzantine emperors and their reigns, Psellos also excelled in describing as well as prescribing practices and rules for literary discourse and visual culture. The ambition of Michael Psellos on Literature and Art is to illustrate an important chapter in the history of Greek literary and art criticism and introduce precisely this aspect of Psellian writing to a wider public. The editors of this volume present thirty Psellian texts, all of which have been translated - some in part, most in their entirety - into English. In the majority of cases, the works are translated for the first time in any modern language, and several are discussed at length here for the first time. They are grouped into two separate sections, which roughly translate to two areas of theoretical reflection associated with the modern terms 'literature' and 'art.'0.

Author: Stratis Papaioannou
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107067529
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This book explores Michael Psellos' place in the history of Greek rhetoric and self-representation and his impact on the development of Byzantine literature. Avoiding the modern dilemma that vacillates between Psellos the pompous rhetorician and Psellos the ingenious thinker, Professor Papaioannou unravels the often misunderstood Byzantine rhetoric, its rich discursive tradition and the social fabric of elite Constantinopolitan culture which rhetoric addressed. The book offers close readings of Psellos' personal letters, speeches, lectures and historiographical narratives, and analysis of other early Byzantine and classical models of authorship in Byzantine book culture, such as Gregory of Nazianzos, Synesios of Cyrene, Hermogenes and Plato. It also details Psellos' innovative attention to authorial creativity, performative mimesis and the aesthetics of the self. Simultaneously, it traces within Byzantium complex expressions of emotion and gender, notions of authorship and subjectivity, and theories of fictionality and literature, challenging the common fallacy that these are modern inventions.

Author: Michael Psellus
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141904550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
This chronicle of the Byzantine Empire, beginning in 1025, shows a profound understanding of the power politics that characterized the empire and led to its decline.

Author: Anthony Kaldellis
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004452869
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This book is a philosophical interpretation of Michael Psellos' Chronographia, an acknowledged masterpiece of Byzantine literature. Anthony Kaldellis argues that although the Chronographia contains a fascinating historical narrative; it is really a disguised philosophical work which, if read carefully, reveals Psellos' revolutionary views on politics and religion. Kaldellis exposes the rhetorical techniques with which Psellos veils his unorthodoxy, and demonstrates that the inner message of the text challenges the Church's supremacy over the intellectual and political life of Byzantium. Psellos consciously articulates a secular vision of Imperial politics, and seeks to liberate philosophy from the constraints of Christian theology. The analysis is lucid and should be accessible to anyone with a general knowledge of Byzantine civilization. It should interest all who study the history of ancient and medieval philosophy.

Author: Michael Psellos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780268024154
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book contains the works that Psellos wrote about his family, including a long funeral oration for his mother that features unique recollections from a childhood spent in Constantinople; a funeral oration for his young daughter Styliane, which includes a detailed description of her physical appearance and a moving account of her illness and death; a legal work pertaining to the engagement of his second, adopted, daughter; and various letters and other works that relate to the private life of this Byzantine family.

Author: Frederick Lauritzen
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503548418
Category : Byzantine Empire
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Character is the single most important feature of the Chronographia written by Michael Psellos (1018-1081?). It is an historical account of the events at court from the time of Basil II (986-1025) to Michael VII Doukas (1071-1078) with the insight of someone whose career developed within the imperial court and his unsurpassed eye for details of personality was enlightened by his intellectual interests. During his lifetime, Psellos was considered the forefront of philosophical studies in the capital and therefore was named consul of philosophers in 1047 and he credited himself with reintroducing Plato on the cultural scene of Constantinople. It was his attractive manner of speech which led him to remain in the emperor's presence and his rhetorical ability also plays an important role in the Chronographia, especially when he emphasizes or fabricates events to justify his understanding of a person's mind. Many have employed Psellos' Chronographia for its value in shedding light on historic events, itself important, though it often neglects the fact that Psellos' historiography is not based on factual details to explain multiple causes for events, but seeks to attribute blame or merit to the personality of the ruling emperor.

Author: Michael Jeffreys
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198787227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
The Letters of Psellos is the first detailed study of the correspondence of Michael Psellos, a preeminent Byzantine intellectual, politician, and writer. Structured in two parts, it juxtaposes five essays offering detailed historical and literary analyses of selected letters with annotated summaries of the entirety of Psellos' correspondence.

Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004392882
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description
This book offers the first complete survey of the Byzantine poetic production (4th to 15th centuries). It examines the use of poetry in various sociocultural settings in Constantinople and various other centres of the Byzantine empire.

Author: Michael Attaleiates
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674057996
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 657

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Book Description
In 1039 Byzantium was the most powerful empire in Europe and the Near East. By 1079 it was a politically unstable state half the size, menaced by enemies on all sides. The History of Michael Attaleiates is our main source for this astonishing reversal. This translation, based on the most recent critical edition, includes notes, maps, and glossary.