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Anne Comnène citations

Anne Comnène est une historienne et princesse byzantine , premier enfant de l’empereur Alexis Ier et de l’impératrice Irène Doukas . Dans le but de rapprocher les deux familles, elle fut fiancée peu après sa naissance à Constantin Doukas, fils que Marie d'Alanie avait eu de Michel VII.

Elle crut pouvoir succéder à son père grâce au droit d’aînesse, ou du moins devenir impératrice à titre de fiancée de Constantin, puis d’épouse de Nicéphore Bryenne. Toutefois, la naissance en 1087 d’un héritier mâle, Jean, mit fin à ses espoirs ; ce dernier fut officiellement désigné en 1092 pour succéder à son père. Dès la mort d’Alexis en 1118 et dans les mois qui suivirent, Anne, poussée par sa mère, tenta de déposer Jean, ce qui lui valut d’être reléguée au couvent de Kecharitomene où elle se consacra à l’étude de l’histoire et de la philosophie. C’est là que, reprenant le récit commencé par son époux Nicéphore Bryenne, elle écrivit l’Alexiade, long poème épique en 15 livres s'inspirant de l'Illiade d'Homère ainsi que de l'Heraclias de Georges de Pisidie et rapportant les exploits de son père qu’elle adulait. Ce livre demeure l’une des principales sources d’information sur l’histoire politique de Byzance de la fin du XIe au début du XIIe siècle et permet de comparer les points de vue occidentaux et orientaux sur la première croisade. Wikipedia  

✵ 1. décembre 1083 – 1153
Anne Comnène: 8   citations 0   J'aime

Anne Comnène: Citations en anglais

“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!”

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Anna Comnena livre 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…”

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Anna Comnena livre 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”

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Anna Comnena livre 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.”

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Anna Comnena livre 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;”

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Anna Comnena livre Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface
Contexte: 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.”

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Anna Comnena livre 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.”

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Anna Comnena livre 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?”

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Anna Comnena livre Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface

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