Michael Psellos

Michael Psellos was born in 1017 or 1018, probably in Constantinople, and was baptized Constantine; Michael was the name he later took as a monk. His family came from Nicomedia, and his surname, meaning 'the stammerer', probably referred to a speech defect. He was educated in Constantinople, worked as secretary to a provincial judge, and rose to become a leading adviser at the imperial court, serving several emperors. He was named 'consul of the philosophers', the head of philosophical teaching in the capital, and he promoted the study of ancient Greek literature and of Plato, whom he presented as compatible with Christian teaching. In about 1054 he briefly entered a monastery on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, but he soon returned to court. His Chronographia is a history in the form of lively portraits of the emperors and empresses from Basil II to Michael VII, many of whom he knew personally, and it is a major source for eleventh-century Byzantium. He also wrote letters, speeches, and works on science and theology. He probably died about 1078.

Michael Psellos is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: A Byzantine Christian scholar whose study of profane literature brought him under suspicion of the orthodox. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911) (via Wikisource)