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Common Knowledge

Legal name: Κομνηνή, Ἄννα
Komnene, Anna
Birthdate: 1083-12-01
Date of death: 1153
Gender: female
Nationality: Byzantium
Byzantine Empire
Eastern Roman Empire
Country (for map): Turkey
Birthplace: Constantinople, Byzantium
Place of death: Monastery of Kecharitomene, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Places of residence: Constantinople, Byzantium
Occupations: princess
historian
physician
Short biography: Anna was a medieval princess, eldest daughter of the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus of Byzantium and Empress Irene Doukaina. She was extremely well educated by the standards of the time, and wrote the Alexiad, a multi-volume biography of her father and one of the most important primary sources on the Byzantine empire. In 1097, Anna married Nikephorus Bryennius the Younger, son of a former pretender to the imperial throne, and in 1118 joined in a conspiracy to make her husband emperor. When the plot failed, she and her mother retired to a monastery, where Anna wrote her books.

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Reviews

La alexiada : una historia del Imperio Bizantino… by Anna Comnena

Un de los textos clásicos de la literatura bizantina, muy bien escrito y traducido (aunque, evidentemente puede resultar un tanto arcaico para el lector actual) No solo tiene valores literarios, si no que, además, es una importante referencia sobre la vida del emperador Alejo I (Aunque tiene claras omisiones interesadas, no en vano, Anna jugó muy fuerte en la política imperial en su momento y perdió)

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Alberto_MdH | Sep 11, 2024 |

The Alexiad (Penguin Classics) by Anna Komnene

Very engaging narrative of the life of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Kommenos. Despite protestations to the contrary by Anna, the work is not free from the biases of the author, however, this does not lessen the value of the work.

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Bstoy | 9 other reviews | Apr 19, 2023 |

The Alexiad of Anna Comnena (The Penguin Classics) by Anna Comnena

Surprisingly modern and enjoyable to read.

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ShaneBX | 9 other reviews | Feb 4, 2020 |

The Alexiad of Anna Comnena by Anna Comnena

Anna Comnena's history of the reign of her father, the Emperor Alexius. After a while, the sheer blizzard of invasions, rebellions and betrayals gets to be a trifle overwhelming, and with so many characters changing sides, getting blinded, or whatnot, one can be forgiven, I think, if one is confused. You certainly get an insight into how, well, Byzantine the Byzantine Empire was. Bitter old woman in her dotage.

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EricCostello | 9 other reviews | Sep 29, 2019 |

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