Michael Psellos has long been known as a key figure in the history of Byzantine literary and intellectual culture, but his theoretical and critical reflections on literature and art are little known outside of a small circle of specialists. Most famous for his Chronographia, a history of eleventh-century Byzantine emperors and their reigns, Psellos also excelled in describing as well as prescribing practices and rules for literary discourse and visual culture. The ambition of Michael Psellos (...) on Literature and Art is to illustrate an important chapter in the history of Greek literary and art criticism and introduce precisely this aspect of Psellian writing to a wider public. The editors of this volume present thirty Psellian texts, all of which have been translated - some in part, most in their entirety - into English. In the majority of cases, the works are translated for the first time in any modern language, and several are discussed at length here for the first time. They are grouped into two separate sections, which roughly translate to two areas of theoretical reflection associated with the modern terms 'literature' and 'art.'0. (shrink)

Michael Psellos ist ein Philosoph, der wie kein anderer für die byzantinische Epoche steht. Das Denken dieses Großintellektuellen – der in subtilen Auseinandersetzungen mit antiken und spätantiken Positionen in Theologie, Ontologie und Ethik eine selbständige christliche Philosophie formuliert – findet in diesem Band erstmalig eine monographische Gesamtdarstellung. Die Arbeit liefert durch ihren systematischen Charakter, durch die Einbeziehung bisher nicht interpretierter Texte, durch die Darlegung der bisherigen Forschungsergebnisse und durch die Aufdeckung von Traditioinslinien eine wichtige Grundlage für die weitere (...) Erforschung der byzantinischen Philosophie. (shrink)

The Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos wrote a brief treatise entitled An Explanation of the Drive of the Soul Chariot and the Army of Gods According to Plato in the Phaedrus. The treatise consists of a compilation of excerpts from Hermias’ commentary on the Phae­drus. Psellos does not mention Hermias’ name but rather traces the origins of the treatise back to some “Greek theologians”. Psellos’ text presents a great interpretative challenge: the order of the myths about the (...) charioteer and the parade of gods is reversed so that the former explicates the latter in such a way that the whole Platonic argument is dismissed as “absurd”. The Phaedrus in the Neo ‑Platonic tradition is considered to be a strictly theological dialogue. Yet, Psellos’ arrangement shows that he was not interested in the mythographical or allegorical dimension of the excerpts. He rath­er focused on the epistemic problem, i.e., a reduction of the trichotomy of the soul into a duality of principles. Thus, he followed certain Aristo­telian commentators. Psellos suggests a reduction that is subjectivist or individualist in its nature and he refuses to identify individual intellect with any particular piety. (shrink)

The Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos describes in his ethics two kinds of virtue: practical and intellectual virtues. Practical virtues are defined as a middle term between two extremes as is known from the Aristotelian tradition. His innovation is to define also a middle regarding the intellectual virtues. He says that the highest object of knowledge is not graspable for the human intellect because it exceeds his powers. Whoever strives to understand the highest object of knowledge, the essence of (...) god, is determined to fail. Thus, the best objects that the human intellect can contemplate are situated below god, in the “middle”. The concept of the middle is thus present twice in Psellos’ ethics: once in the practical virtues and once in the intellectual virtues. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Byzantinische Zeitschrift Jahrgang: 107 Heft: 1 Seiten: 77-96.

The first results of my Phd-thesis regarding Michael Psellos’ practical philosophy, namely his approach on brotherly love and cosmopolitism. I will analyze passages from several texts and present first translations. Secondly I will put his arguments in context with the classical pagan, late antique and Christian ways of understanding virtue, cosmopolitism and brotherly love as well as work out his proper innovation. Michael Psellos is representative for the byzantine way of thought and its unique mixture that (...) just begins to be analyzed by modern scholars. (shrink)

"Michael Psellos was the 'Cicero of Byzantium,' except that his interests were more wide-ranging than those of his Roman predecessor. In addition to being a politician, poet, and writer of letters, speeches, and treatises on philosophy and rhetoric, he was an innovative historian and a practical educator who interested himself in all aspects of learning, from mathematics and medicine to theurgy. Before now, only his 'Chronographia' has been at all well known. Anthony Kaldellis has done a great service (...) in making accessible a collection of texts bearing upon personal familial relationships, of which we know so little in Byzantium. His translations read well, are accurate, and reflect Psellos' literary subtlety. His commentaries are scholarly and give vital information for the better understanding of this facet of Byzantine society." —_Antony R. Littlewood, University of Western Ontario_ “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_ _Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters_ makes available for the first time complete English translations from the works of Michael Psellos, a key philosopher of the Byzantine Empire. 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. (shrink)

The paper examines the relation of esotericism and oblique politics in the Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos on the basis of Eva De Vries’ study of the letters that Psellos addressed to the statesman Leo Paraspondylos. Traditionally, the name of Psellos signifies a revival of Neoplatonism in medieval Constantinople according to researchers like Chr. Zervos in the beginning of 20th century. Contemporary researchers such as Anthony Kaldellis and Stratis Papaioannou point to a more organic than speculative theorization (...) in Psellos’ work while another contemporary scholar, Frederick Lauritzen, undertakes a synthesis of the two approaches. In any case, as this paper supports, it would be inadequate to consider the relation of esotericism to politics without referring to the evolution of the moral standards considered in a contextualized manner. (shrink)

The need to establish a definitive list of the works of Psellos, one of the most important and neglected Byzantine authors, has long been recognized, as have the difficulties facing this task. The works themselves number in the hundreds, are found in hundreds of manuscripts, and have not all been published. There is no standard system of Latin titles by which to refer to them (cf. Plutarch's Moralia). The editions themselves are sometimes inaccessible, and the secondary bibliography has been (...) produced in at least half a dozen languages. Between 1995 and 1998, and in ignorance of Moore's (M.) ongoing project, I prepared two bibliographies, one of the editions of Psellos' works and one of secondary literature, which I announced in my study of the Chronographia. I did not include publications pre-1800 and I did not actually produce a list of Psellos' works, only of their modern editions, listed under the editor's name and referring their contents to the corresponding text in the Teubner series (where available, otherwise giving the Greek title). This latter choice was a concession to the habit that prevails in our field of citing texts by the page number of the latest edition rather than by title and section or line number. This makes footnotes unhelpful (it is often unclear what kind of text is being cited), and makes them obsolete when new editions appear. Moreover, it reveals a certain lack of respect for the text as work of literature, implying that all “pages” are one undifferentiated mass of “information” that does not have a purpose, identity, or shape of its own. (shrink)

Emotion Review, Volume 13, Issue 4, Page 289-298, October 2021. This paper takes its cue from the recent interest in materiality and “things” in the field of Byzantine studies, to explore the role of objects in evoking being moved. First, it advances a new model to explain the relationship between being moved and affordances. Second, it focuses on a specific case study, that is Michael Psellos’ funeral oration for his daughter Styliane, who died of smallpox at the age (...) of 9 years old. The paper sheds light on how affective affordances of an object contribute to the evocation of being moved in literary texts, working within and affecting narrative patterns. While building on the experience of ethical and spiritual principles clearly recognizable by the audience, such affordances point toward the activation of broader core values. (shrink)

Michael Psellos (1018-1081) read texts of the Neoplatonist Proclus (412-485) throughout his life. His interest may have started as early as 1034, but the first direct references can be dated to ca 1041 and the last occur towards the end of his life, notably the Omnifaria Doctrina. Psellos’ interest in Proclus evolved over time: 1. 1034-1043 hermeneutical problems, 2. 1043-1059 theurgy and interest in relation between body and soul, 3. 1059-1081 physiology and interest in Proclus’ philosophical principles. (...) Psellos’ wide range of interests means that each phase represents a particular focus, but not exclusive one. (shrink)

The last years of Michael Psellos' life are clouded in obscurity. He was certainly active at the court of his student Michael VII (1071–1078), but when Nikephoritzes, the logothetes tou dromou, became imperial advisor (Attaleiates, Historia, 200,12ff) he practically disappeared from the scene. One of the last chronological references found in his Chronographia is the death of Crispinus in 1075 (VII, b 39, 3–4). In that year he also wrote a description of the “usual miracle” which occurred (...) regularly in the church of Blachernai and somewhat later a funeral oration for Patriarch Ioannes Xiphilinos. Among his writings survives another funeral oration which he dedicated to the young Andronikos Doukas. This work is transmitted only in part by cod. Parisinus gr. 1182 and is dated in 1076. From that point on, practically nothing is known about his subsequent life. (shrink)

New quotations recently published by P. Canart from a Vatican manuscript and identified as texts of Michael Psellos are examined, textual corrections and interpretations are proposed and further parallels presented that confirm the Psellian authorship put forward by the editor.

A penetrating analysis of the Chronographia , which reveals how Psellos integrated his vision of a secular state and his philosophical opposition to Christianity into a historical narrative. Psellos' dissimulation and rhetorical techniques are examined thoroughly.

1. Die Illuminationsiehre des Michael Psellos und Joannes Italos.

A distanza di tredici anni dalla pubblicazione del primo, e più corposo, volume dei Theologica di Michele Psello, curato da Paul Gautier, vede ora la luce il secondo e ultimo volume degli opuscoli teologici del grande poligrafo bizantino, ad arricchire ulteriormente la ormai lunga serie delle edizioni pselliane comparse nella Bibliotheca Teubneriana. Il vol. si apre con una Praefatio essenziale (pp. VII–XVIII), incentrata sulla tradizione manoscritta dei singoli opuscoli, nella quale vengono rapidamente elencati tutti i codici dai quali ogni trattatello (...) ci è stato trasmesso e le (eventuali) precedenti edizioni. Dopo il Conspectus editionum (limitato agli scritti pubblicati nel II vol.) e il consueto elenco dei Sigla (pp. XIX–XXI) segue il testo dei quarantacinque opuscoli (pp. 1–153), ventitré dei quali fino ad oggi inediti. Tali opuscoli risultano di dimensioni assai variabili: si va da veri e propri saggi lunghi fino a venticinque pagine a stampa (op. 3) a semplici schede di una manciata di righi (op. 22). In essi Psello prende prevalentemente in esame loci delle Sacre Scritture; talora discute invece passi problematici del prediletto Gregorio Nazianzeno, oppure affronta questioni puntuali, come l'eresia di Eunomio (op. 14) o l'aspetto degli angeli (op. 38). Come accade anche per scritti di Psello di altro genere (si pensi, ad es., agli opuscoli retorici e filosofici), anche questi trattatelli teologici si configurano non di rado come centoni di passi mutuati da opere altrui e sapientemente assemblati da Psello: si vedano, ad es., op. 14, nel quale vengono combinati loci tratti dall'Adversus Eunomium di Basilio di Cesarea e dall'omonima opera di Gregorio di Nissa, oppure op. 10, largamente debitore delle Quaestiones in Leviticum di Teodoreto di Cirro. Il vol. si chiude con l'elenco degli Initia (pp. 154–155) e tre indici (pp. 155–176): Index auctorum, Index nominum e Index verborum (propriamente, un delectus verborum). (shrink)

This article explores the Byzantine network of the famous physician and theologian Ibn Buṭlān who left Baghdad for Antioch and Constantinople in the mid-11th-century. His contacts included Patriarchs Michael Keroularios and Peter III, Michael Psellos and Symeon Seth. Ibn Buṭlān’s monastic vocation raises the question of his link with Nikon of the Black Mountain. They probably crossed paths in the region of Antioch. Both developed ties with local people and institutions and integrated into the monastic customs of (...) the area. (shrink)

Beginning from Plato, there exists a philosophical tradition, which interprets philosophy as preparation for death. However, for Plato the death of a philosopher does not necessarily imply death in its ordinary meaning, but rather a spiritual way of life maximally free from corporeal affections. This kind of relationship between philosophy and death was intensively discussed in late antique philosophy, Patristics, medieval Byzantine philosophy, and also in medieval Georgian literature. Based on Plato’s and Plotinus’ philosophy, Porphyry presented definitions of three kinds (...) of death in his Sententiae : ‘death’ of a philosopher, natural death, ‘death’ of a soul. The aim of this paper is to provide a philosophical analysis of three concepts of death in the post-Porphyrian tradition, mainly in Byzantine and Georgian texts. The paper is based on the analysis of the above mentioned issues in the texts of Porphyry, Macrobius, Michael Psellos, as well as in the old Georgian versions of the works of Ammonios Hermiae, John of Damascus and John Sinaites. We also take into consideration the views on the relation between philosophy and death in the thought of the philosophers of Humanism and Renaissance, such as Georgios Gemistos Plethon, Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and Michel de Montaigne, whether or not and to what extent their views on the relation between philosophy and death are different from the theories of ancient and medieval Platonists. (shrink)

This work applies the meaning of empsychia (animation) to the domain of graphe empsychos (animated word or image) using some funerary orations written by Gregory of Naziansus (IV-th century) and Michael Psellos (XI-th century). In our opinion, a certain continuity of this Byzantine tradition could be traced in the Romanian culture of the XVI-th century.

This paper argues that research in the primary sources must precede the investigation of Byzantine philosophy. Two points are to be considered, on the one hand, the gathering of texts, and, on the other hand, the study of texts in relation to their sources. Thus the external evidence as well as the internal evidence of texts should be examined. In this double regard, the manuscripts containing Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics are considered. Their authors are Michael of Ephesos, Eustratios of Nicaea, (...) “Anonymus”, Heliodoros of Prussa, Georgios Pachymeres, Michael Psellos, John Italos, Nikephoros Blemmydes, George Gemistos Plethon. (shrink)

This article investigates several discussions of “chemistry,” understood as an analysts’ category referring to theories and practices dealing with the structure and transformation of matter. By reading these texts (a treatise defending kīmiyāʾ by al-Fārābī, the famous passage from Ibn Sīnā’s Shifāʾ on transmutation, Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwā against kīmiyāʾ, Michael Psellos’s treatise On Making Gold, and the same author’s Accusation against a sitting Patriarch of Constantinople), the article aims to lay the groundwork for integrating the historiography of Byzantine (...) and Arabic alchemy into a wider western Eurasian intellectual history. (shrink)

Aristotle produced several arguments to vindicate the futura contingentia and to refute the conception of modalities which do not allow incidental facts. This conception was coined mainly by Diodorus Cronus and implied the view that whatever may happen, is to happen necessarily. Although Aristotle condemned this view and refuted the theology which it implies, Diodorean modalities were employed by the scholastics to support their theology. Abaelard’s Diodorean formula reads: God wishes no more and no less than what He is able (...) to do – i. e. God’s ability to do something implies necessity. In the Summa theologiae, Thomas Aquinas employed Diodorean modalities along with this result of Abaelard’s. Leibniz himself confessed his debt to Diodorean modalities as well as to the work of Abaelard in formulating his own ontological proof. Kurt Gödel was under the influence of Leibniz when he wrote his »Ontological Proof«, which employs Diodorean modalities. — For the Greek-speaking scholars of the Middle Ages, however, Aristotelian influences were stronger than Diodorean as regards theory building on modalities. Philosophers from the East from the 2nd to the 11th century A.D., such as Alexander of Aphrodisias, John Philoponus and Michael Psellos, condemned Diodorean modalities as fallacious. In the same period, Greek Church Fathers such as Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus Confessor and John of Damascus gave an orthodox account of God and the modalities, according to which God is able to do whatever He wishes. The absence of Leibniz-like modal ontological proofs in the Greek tradition seems more plausible under these circumstances. (shrink)

New quotations recently published by P. Canart from a Vatican manuscript and identified as texts of Michael Psellos are examined, textual corrections and interpretations are proposed and further parallels presented that confirm the Psellian authorship put forward by the editor.

This paper presents Niketas Stethatos’ use of the definition of philosophy as “knowledge of human and divine things”. The definition, of Stoic origin, was elaborated by the Neoplatonic school of Alexandria together with five other definitions, and was adopted by the Church Fathers. The first part discusses aspects of the definition’s history in ancient, Patristic, and Byzantine literature until the eleventh century, which indicates Stethatos’ uniqueness. The second part presents the definition in his works, with emphasis on its relation to (...) the φυσικὴ θεωρία. Also the extraordinary often and multifaceted appearance of this definition in Stethatos’ works in his controversy with Michael Psellos is investigated. Stethatos, through his elaborated and systematic reference to the definition, propagates the mystical experience as authentic philosophy against the rise of secular philosophy and its tendency to become autonomous. (shrink)

It is well known that the historical texts composed under the Macedonian dynasty (Theophanes Continuatus, Genesios, but also Leo the Deacon, Manuel protospatharios, John Skylitzes or even Michael Psellos) display certain element, which can be seen as attempts to make a clean break with the past; the formalist style of unbroken historical narrative was largely rejected in favour of historical biography in which the influence of rhetorical methods is self-evident. It is not known which criteria tipped the balance (...) in favour of such a development, though we would do well to consider both the influence of Antiquity, and the close ties that bound biography to hagiography, which from the empire's very beginnings (Vita Constantini) also served as a uniquely Byzantine mode of promoting the image of the emperor. It may be legitimate to speak of a new type of historical writing which is specifically designed for the extremely beautified career of its subject and constitutes a contemporary movement which manifested itself in various cultural contexts. (shrink)

The Strange Situation procedure was developed by Ainsworth two decades agoas a means of assessing the security of infant-parent attachment. Users of the procedureclaim that it provides a way of determining whether the infant has developed species-appropriate adaptive behavior as a result of rearing in an evolutionary appropriate context, characterized by a sensitively responsive parent. Only when the parent behaves in the sensitive, species-appropriate fashion is the baby said to behave in the adaptive or secure fashion. Furthermore, when infants are (...) observed repeatedly in the Strange Situation,the pattern of behavior is said to be highly similar, and this pattern is said to predict the infants' future behavior in a diverse array of contexts. After an exhaustive review of the literature, it is shown that these popular claims are empirically unsupported in their strong form, and that the interpretations in terms of biological adaptationare misguided. There is little reliable evidence about the specific dimensions of parental behavior that affect Strange Situation behavior, although there does appear to be some relationship between these constructs. Temporal stability in security of attachment ishigh only when there is stability in family and caretaking circumstances. Likewise, patterns of Strange Situation behavior only have substantial predictive validity in similarly stable families. Implications for future research and theorizing — particularly as they relate to the use of evolutionary biology in psychological theory — are discussed. (shrink)

Bringing together ethnographic exposition with philosophical concepts and arguments and effectively transcending subdisciplinary boundaries between cultural and ...

While the Tao Te Ching has been translated and commented on countless times, interpretations are seldom based on systematic theoretical treatment of the problems of interpretive method posed by this enigmatic classic. Beginning with a critical discussion of modern hermeneutics including treatments of Hirsch, Gadamer, and Derrida, this book applies methods developed in biblical studies to the Tao Te Ching. The following chapters discuss systematically four areas necessary to recovering the Tao Te Ching 's original meaning: its social background; the (...) semantic structure of the brief aphorisms contained in the book; the concrete background of the more cosmic sayings; and the origin and genre of the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching. These essays propose relatively new theories in each of these areas, leading to a new approach to the interpretation of the text. This approach is illustrated in the translation and the detailed commentary on each chapter. (shrink)