Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters

The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos

Michael Psellos (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

224 Seiten

2006
University of Notre Dame Press (Verlag)
978-0-268-02415-4 (ISBN)

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Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters makes available for the first time complete English translations from the works of Michael Psellos (1018–1076?), a key philosopher of the Byzantine Empire. Psellos was not simply a philosopher, he was also a courtier, historian, and monk, and his works betray a dazzling engagement with philosophy, theology, history, and science. These interests were expressed in some eleven hundred works, including formal rhetorical texts, history writing, letters, poetry, and texts written for his students. 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. These works offer us a rare and comprehensive picture of the family life of a medieval Byzantine courtier and philosopher. Much of the material follows the rules of rhetoric inherited from classical and Christian antiquity, but Psellos was always recasting the conventions of those genre to express his own revolutionary views regarding the relation of body and soul. Some of these works also have an apologetic or legal purpose, as Psellos sometimes used them to get himself out of some trouble. Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters will appeal to all who study medieval women, childhood, and the family, especially as it provides a Byzantine perspective that has been absent from most modern discussions of those topics.

Michael Psellos was a Byzantine Greek monk, writer, philosopher, politician, and historian. Anthony Kaldellis is Professor of Classics at The Ohio State University. He is the author of many studies of Byzantine intellectual and cultural history, including Hellenism in Byzantium and The Christian Parthenon. He has also translated many Byzantine historians into English.

Preface and Acknowledgments

General Introduction

Encomium for his mother

Funeral Oration for his daughter Styliane, who died before the age of marriage

The Court Memorandum (hypomnêma) regarding the engagement of his daughter (D. Jenkins)

To his grandson, who was still an infant

Letters regarding Psellos’ family (S. Papaioannou)

On the festival of St Agathê

Erscheinungsdatum	13.03.2017
Reihe/Serie	Michael Psellos in Translation
Übersetzer	Anthony Kaldellis
Verlagsort	Notre Dame IN
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie des Mittelalters
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	0-268-02415-4 / 0268024154
ISBN-13	978-0-268-02415-4 / 9780268024154
Zustand	Neuware