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OverviewMothers 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. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Michael Psellos , Anthony Kaldellis , David Jenkins , Stratis PapaioannouPublisher: University of Notre Dame Press Imprint: University of Notre Dame Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.333kg ISBN: 9780268033156ISBN 10: 0268033153 Pages: 224 Publication Date: 15 November 2006 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsThis volume presents in translation all the texts that Psellos wrote concerning his family. They present the reader with the most complete picture we have of any non-imperial family by casting light on the life of Byzantine women outside the circle of hagiography and court history. The volume includes a long funeral oration for his mother, a funeral oration for his daughter Styliane, a legal work regarding the engagement of his second, adopted, daughter, a letter to his very young grandson, six letters regarding Psellos's family, and a brief work on the festival of St. Agathe. In Kaldellis's excellent translation, Michael Psellos's times and family come to life. -- Comitatus Anthony Kaldellis is a skilled and gifted translator, one of the best I have ever encountered. I am very excited that we will have access to Psellos' two important encomia of his mother and daughter in an accurate and readable translation, so that more scholars and students will be able to read these works which offer such fascinating insights into family life in eleventh-century Byzantium. This book will be an excellent lead-off volume in the Psellos series, and make scholars anxious for the subsequent volumes to appear. - Alice-Mary Talbot, Director, Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks Author InformationMichael 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. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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