Epistulae

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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.