Epistulae
By: Michael Psellus ; edidit Stratis Papaioannou
Contributors: Papaioannou, Stratis, editor
Series: Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana -- BT 2030; Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana -- BT 2030.
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Berlin; Boston
Language: grc; eng
Number of pages: 1207
ISBN-13: 9783110622010; 9783110625011
Copyright date: 2019
Subjects: Manuscripts; Greek literature; History and criticism; Greek letters; Byzantine literature; Byzantine letters; Social life and customs; Manners and customs
Work titles: Correspondence
Description: This is the first critical edition of the 520 letters of Michael Psellos, based on approximately 40 medieval Greek manuscripts. Psellos (11th c., Constantinople) is a well-known figure among students of Byzantine culture. A recent survey recorded 1176 Psellian texts, approximately 1790 medieval and early modern manuscripts with one or more of these texts, and ca. 1300 bibliographical items, from 1497 to the year 2000. Psellos also figures in modern non-academic writing: in Renaissance novels, in Seferis, Auden, and others. Psellos is thus arguably among the most prolific and popular medieval Greek authors. The appeal is no accident. Psellos wrote about nearly every subject and in just about every Byzantine genre. His philosophical texts and lectures are invaluable sources of Byzantine knowledge. The rhetorical writings, such as speeches, histories, and, most importantly, the letters edited here offer us glimpses into the lives of well-known but also everyday Byzantines. Psellos' letter-collection is, after all, one of the finest specimens of this popular Byzantine genre. It sheds light to networks of Constantinopolitan ruling elite, and, most importantly, habits of literary imagination as well as typologies of self.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages clxv-clxxxv) and index.

Letters in Greek; preface and prolegomena in English.