Anna Komnene's narrative of the war against the Scythians

Title: Anna Komnene's narrative of the war against the Scythians
Author: Meško, Marek
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2014, vol. 19, iss. 2, pp. [53]-70
Extent
[53]-70
  • ISSN
    1803-7402 (print)
    2336-4424 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
 

Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.

Abstract(s)
The Alexiad by Anna Komnene is well-known. At times it raises controversial issues (e.g. concerning "full" authorship of the Byzantine princess), but all in all it represents a very valuable source of information. In this paper the author strives to examine just how precise and valuable the pieces of information she gives us in connection with the war of her father emperor Alexios Komnenos (1081–1118) against the Scythians (the Pechenegs) are. He also mentions chronological issues which at times are able to "darken" the course of events and render their putting back into the right context difficult. There are many inconsistencies of this type in Anna Komnene's narrative and for these reasons it is important to reestablish clear chronological order of events. Finally the author presents a concise description of the war against the Pechenegs based on the findings in the previous parts of his paper.
Note
This work was supported by the Program of "Employment of Newly Graduated Doctors of Science for Scientific Excellence" (grant number CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0009) co-financed from European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic.
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