Title Anna Komnene : the life and work of a medieval historian / Leonora Neville

Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 240 pages) Series Onassis series in Hellenic culture Onassis series in Hellenic culture. Contents Part I.A good historian and a good woman -- Why didn't Greek women write history? -- Qualified, and modest about it -- Unbiased historian & devoted daughter -- Crying like a woman and writing like a man -- Gathering research without leaving the house -- Part II. A power-hungry conspirator? -- Death-bed dramas -- Celebrating an odd bird -- A room of one's own -- Ambition & brotherly love -- The "fury of a Medea." Summary The authorial persona constructed by Anna Komnene in her Alexiad (a history of her father the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios Komnenos, 1081–1118) responded to the challenges Byzantine culture created for female historical authorship. Fundamental cultural conceptions of masculinity, femininity, authority, deference, and morality within Byzantine society worked to make history writing an activity for men. Once the masculinity of history writing is understood, we can see how Anna endeavored to construct herself as both an authoritative historian and a meritorious woman. The first half of this book offers explanations of how various aspects of Anna’s self-presentation in the Alexiad work to convince her audience that she was capable of writing a reliable history, even though she was a woman, and that she was a morally virtuous woman, even though she wrote a history. These new interpretations of Anna’s authorial persona then spark a thorough re-thinking of the standard narrative that defines Anna’s life by the failure of her supposed political ambitions. The second half of this work reviews the medieval sources pertaining to the succession of John II Komnenos with fresh eyes and questions the foundations of the story that Anna disputed her brother’s rule. The story of Anna’s bloodthirsty ambition owed its creation less to medieval evidence than to eighteenth and nineteenth century scholars who did not perceive her efforts to appear modest and feminine in the Alexiad, but still considered female historical authorship to be problematic Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on August 17, 2016) Subject Comnena, Anna, 1083- SUBJECT Comnena, Anna, 1083- fast Subject Princesses -- Byzantine Empire -- Biography Historians -- Byzantine Empire -- Biography BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Historical. HISTORY -- Europe -- General. Historians Princesses SUBJECT Byzantine Empire -- History -- Alexius I Comnenus, 1081-1118. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85018501 Subject Byzantine Empire Genre/Form Electronic books Biographies History Biographies. Biographies. Form Electronic book LC no. 2016009353 ISBN 9780190498184 0190498188 019049817X 9780190498177 9780190498191 0190498196

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