Michael Psellos. On Symeon the Metaphrast and On the Miracle at Blachernae: Annotated Translations with Introductions

The reader of this slender volume will encounter a figure of immense intellectual stature. Michael Psellos (1018–after 1077) combined the roles of scholar and court dignitary in Byzantium at the time of the Byzantine empire’s greatest territorial extent and political influence in the eastern Mediterranean world. The two essays presented here in translation have each attracted close scholarly attention because of their relevance to particular topics. The Discourse on the Miracle That Occurred in the Blachernae Church contains a description of an “ensouled” icon of the Virgin that is the object of vigorous and continuing discussion among art historians investigating Byzantine perceptions of icons. Similarly, the Encomion of His Excellency Symeon the Metaphrast (392 lines of Greek text) contains a vignette of nineteen lines detailing Symeon’s working methods as coordinator of a massive scholarly project (330–349). Although this passage is unique and deserves close examination, the essay as a whole provides a context for it within Psellos’ broader theoretical view of literature and contemporary scholarly activity. In the case of each of these essays, an annotated translation of the whole work such as those provided here will benefit the appreciation of Psellos’ methods and intentions as an author.