The Depiction of Character in the Chronographia of Michael Psellos PDF Download

Author: Frederick Lauritzen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9782503558882
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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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 Psellos
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268100519
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
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.

Author: Michael Psellus
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141904550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 623

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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: Dragos Calma
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004440682
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, published in three volumes, is a fresh, comprehensive understanding of the history of Neoplatonism from the 9th to the 16th century. The impact of the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes is reconsidered on the basis of newly discovered manuscripts and evidences. This second volume revises widely accepted hypotheses about the reception of the Proclus’ text in Byzantium and the Caucasus, and about the context that made possible the composition of the Book of Causes and its translations into Latin and Hebrew. The contributions offer a unique, comparative perspective on the various ways a pagan author was acculturated to the Abrahamic traditions.

Author: Michael Edward Stewart
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429633408
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
This volume is the first to focus solely on how specific individuals and groups in Byzantium and its borderlands were defined and distinguished from other individuals and groups from the mid-fourth to the close of the fifteenth century. It gathers chapters from both established and emerging scholars from a wide range of disciplines across history, art, archaeology, and religion to provide an accurate representation of the state of the field both now and in its immediate future. The handbook is divided into four subtopics that examine concepts of group and specific individual identity which have been chosen to provide methodologically sophisticated and multidisciplinary perspectives on specific categories of group and individual identity. The topics are Imperial Identities; Romanitas in the Late Antique Mediterranean; Macro and Micro Identities: Religious, Regional, and Ethnic Identities, and Internal Others; and Gendered Identities: Literature, Memory, and Self in Early and Middle Byzantium. While no single volume could ever provide a comprehensive vision of identities on the vast variety of peoples within Byzantium over nearly a millennium of its history, this handbook represents a milestone in offering a survey of the vibrant surge of scholarship examining the numerous and oft-times fluctuating codes of identity that shaped and transformed Byzantium and its neighbours during the empire’s long life.

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: Theodora Antonopoulou
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501501623
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
This volume presents a broad array of contributions on Byzantine literature and culture, in which well-known Byzantinists approach topics of ceremonial, education, historiography, hagiography, homiletics, law, philology, philosophy, prosopography, rhetoric and theology. New editions and analyses of texts and documents are included. The essays combine traditional scholarship with newer approaches, thus reflecting the current dynamics of the field.

Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004409440
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 721

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The Greek biographer and philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 45-125 AD) makes a fascinating case-study for reception studies not least because of his uniquely extensive and diverse afterlife. Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plutarch offers the first comprehensive analysis of Plutarch’s rich reception history from the Roman Imperial period through Late Antiquity and Byzantium to the Renaissance, Enlightenment and the modern era. The thirty-seven chapters that make up this volume, written by a remarkable line-up of experts, explore the appreciation, contestation and creative appropriation of Plutarch himself, his thought and work in the history of literature across various cultures and intellectual traditions in Europe, America, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Author: Georgios Theotokis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429574770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium presents new insights and critical approaches to warfare between the Byzantine Empire and its neighbours during the eleventh century. Modern historians have identified the eleventh century as a landmark era in Byzantine history. This was a period of invasions, political tumult, financial crisis and social disruption, but it was also a time of cultural and intellectual innovation and achievement. Despite this, the subject of warfare during this period remains underexplored. Addressing an important gap in the historiography of Byzantium, the volume argues that the eleventh century was a period of important geo-political change, when the Byzantine Empire was attacked on all sides, and its frontiers were breached. This book is valuable reading for scholars and students interested in Byzantium history and military history.