Anna Comnena Quotes

Anna Komnene , commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine Greek princess and the author of the Alexiad, an account of the reign of her father, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The Alexiad constitutes the most important primary source of Byzantine history of the late 11th and early 12th centuries. Although she is best known as the author of the Alexiad, Anna played an important part in the politics of the time and attempted to depose her brother, John II Komnenos, as emperor and seize the throne herself.At birth, Anna was betrothed to Constantine Doukas, and she grew up in his mother's household. She was well-educated in "Greek literature and history, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and medicine." Anna and Constantine were next in the line to throne until Anna's younger brother, John II Komnenos, became the heir in 1092. Constantine died around 1094, and Anna married Nikephoros Bryennios in 1097. The two had several children before Nikephoros' death around 1136.Following her father's death in 1118, Anna and her mother attempted to usurp John II Komnenos. Her husband refused to cooperate with them, and the usurpation failed. As a result, John exiled Anna to the Kecharitomene Monastery, where she spent the rest of her life. In confinement there, she wrote the Alexiad. Wikipedia

✵ 1. December 1083 – 1153

Works

Alexiad

Anna Comnena

Anna Comnena: 8 quotes 5 likes

Famous Anna Comnena Quotes

“While the abominable pope with his spiritual peace and evangelic peace, this despot, marched to make war on his own kindred with might and main - the man of peace, too, and disciple of the Man of Peace!”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

Of Pope Gregory VII
The Alexiad, Book 1

“I, having realized the effects wrought by Time, desire now by means of my writings to give an account of my father's deeds, which do not deserve to be consigned to Forgetfulness nor to be swept away on the flood of Time into an ocean of Non-Remembrance; I wish to recall everything…”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface

“It is extraordinary that nobody nowadays under the stress of great troubles is turned into stone or a bird or a tree or some inanimate object; they used to undergo such metamorphoses in ancient times (or so they say), though whether that is myth or a true story I know not. Maybe it would be better to change one's nature into something that lacks all feeling, rather than be so sensitive to evil. Had that been possible, these calamities would in all probability have turned me to stone”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface

“Constantine was Nature's masterpiece, a triumph, as it were, of God's handiwork. One look at him would convince anyone that here was a descendant of the mythical Golden Age of the Greeks, so infinite was his charm.”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

Of Constantine Doukas
The Alexiad, Book 1

“The stream of Time, irresistible, ever moving, carries off and bears away all things that come to birth and plunges them into utter darkness, both deeds of no account and deeds which are mighty and worthy of commemoration;”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface
Context: The stream of Time, irresistible, ever moving, carries off and bears away all things that come to birth and plunges them into utter darkness, both deeds of no account and deeds which are mighty and worthy of commemoration; as the playwright [Sophocles] says, it 'brings to light that which was unseen and shrouds from us that which was manifest.' Nevertheless, the science of History is a great bulwark against this stream of Time; in a way it checks this irresistible flood, it holds in a tight grasp whatever it can seize floating on the surface and will not allow it to slip away into the depths of Oblivion.

“Father and son you might liken to caterpillars and locusts, for what was left by Robert, his son fed on and devoured.”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

Of Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemund
The Alexiad, Book 1

“One such was that braggart Robert, notorious for his power-lust, born in Normandy, but nursed and nourished by manifold Evil.”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

Of the Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard
The Alexiad, Book 1

“Even now I cannot believe that I am still alive and writing this account of the emperor's death. I put my hands to my eyes, wondering if what I am relating here is not all a dream - or maybe it is not a dream: perhaps it is a delusion and I am mad, the victim of some extraordinary and monstrous hallucination. How comes it that when he is dead I am still numbered among the living?”

Anna Comnena book Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface

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