Anna Komnene

The Life and Work of a Medieval Historian
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-19-093989-2
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 438 g

Byzantine princess Anna Komnene is known for two things: plotting to murder her brother to usurp the throne, and writing the Alexiad, an epic history of her father Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) that is a key historical source for the era of the First Crusade. Anna Komnene: the Life and Work of a Medieval Historian investigates the relationship between Anna's self-presentation in the Alexiad and the story of her bloodthirsty ambition. It begins by asking why women did not write history in Anna's society, what cultural rules Anna broke by doing so, and how Anna tried to respond to those challenges in her writing. Many of the idiosyncrasies and surprises of Anna's Alexiad are driven by her efforts to be perceived as both a good historian and a good woman. These new interpretations of Anna's authorial persona then spark a thorough re-thinking of the standard story which defines Anna's life by the failure of her supposed political ambitions. The second half of this work reviews the medieval sources with fresh eyes and re-establishes Anna's primary identity as an author and intellectual rather than as a failed conspirator.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Neville, Leonora

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Contents

- Abbreviations

- Introduction

- Part I: A Good Historian and a Good Woman

- 1 Why didn't Greek Women write history?

- 2 Qualified, and Modest about It

- 3 Unbiased Historian and Devoted Daughter

- 4 Crying like a Woman and Writing like a Man

- 5 Gathering Research without Leaving the House

- Part II A Power-Hungry Conspirator?

- 6 Death-Bed Dramas

- 7 Celebrating an Odd Bird

- 8 A Room of One's Own

- 9 Ambition and Brotherly Love

- 10 The “Fury of a Medea”

- Conclusions

- Acknowledgements

- Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Leonora Neville is the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Professor of Byzantine History at the University of Wisconsin Madison and author most recently of Heroes and Romans in Twelfth-Century Byzantium.