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Anna Comnena

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Anna Comnena was also known as: Anna of Byzantium; her name is also spelled Anna Komnene or Anna Komnena.
Anna Comnena was noted for: Writing the Alexiad, a biography of her father that also offers important information about the Eastern Roman Empire and the First Crusade. Her writings make her the first woman historian.
Occupations:
    Crusade Witness
    Royalty
    Woman of Note
    Writer & Historian
Places of Residence and Influence:
    Byzantium (the Eastern Roman Empire)
Important Dates:
Quotation from Anna Comnena:
    "Time in its irresistible and ceaseless flow carries along on its flood all created things and drowns them in the depths of obscurity. . . . But the tale of history forms a very strong bulwark against the stream of time, and checks in some measure its irresistible flow, so that, of all things done in it, as many as history has taken over it secures and binds together, and does not allow them to slip away into the abyss of oblivion."
About Anna Comnena:

Byzantine Princess Anna Comnena was the daughter of Emperor Alexius Comnenus of the Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire). When the first Crusaders reached Constantinople, Anna witnessed their arrival and their alien customs, and would later record her observations for posterity.

Anna attempted to convince her father to disinherit his son in favor of her husband Nicephorus, but failed; after Alexius' death Anna conspired to overthrow her brother and failed again. She gave up her property and retired to a convent, where she wrote a history of the life and reign of her father in the Alexiad. This 15-volume work was an admiring biography, but it also became a valuable source of information about the Crusades. For her writings, Anna Comnena is considered the world's first female historian.
Little is known of Anna's life after she completed the Alexiad sometime around 1148. The exact year of Anna Comnena's death remains unknown.

Anna Comnena in Print

The links below will take you to a site where you can compare prices at booksellers across the web. More in-depth info about the book may be found by clicking on to the book's page at one of the online merchants.
    Anna Komnene and Her Times
    edited by Thalia Gouma-Peterson

    The Alexiad of Anna Comnena
    (Penguin edition)
    translated by E. R. Sewter


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More Anna Comnena Resources:

Anna Comnena on the Web
Encyclopedia Article on Anna Comnena
Profile of Anna Comnena at About Women's History


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