Course Content (Syllabus)
Michael Psellos was one of the greatest, if not the greatest scholar of the Byzantine period, and of course a leading representative of the Renaissance of the 11th century. Philosopher, historian and orator, tried, and largely managed to conquer all the knowledge of his time. Psellos returns in attic language and ancient Greek philosophical thought. Is a leading Byzantine classicist and humanist. His work and of course his personality are interpreted and evaluated differently by the scientists.
1. The historical context of the 11th c.
2. The Culture of the 11th c.
3. The Life of Michael Psellos.
4. Psellos as a Philosopher. Metaphysic.
5. Ethic and political Theory.
6. Psellos as Historian.
7. Rhetoric.
8. Occultism and Science.
9. Classicism and christian Humanism.
10. Psellos as Teacher.
11. Politic.
12. Psellos and the Scholars of his time.
13. Evaluation and Influence.
Keywords
Scholars, Classicism, Philosophy, Renaissance
Additional bibliography for study
V. Tatakis, Η βυζαντινή φιλοσοφία, Athens 1977.
A.Γ.Κ. Σαββίδης, Βυζαντινό ιστοριογραφικό πεντάπτυχο: Προκόπιος, Μιχαήλ Ψελλός, Άννα Κομνηνή, Ιωάννης Κίνναμος, Γεώργιος Σφραντζής: συμβολή για τους ιστοριογράφους και την εποχή τους, Ηρόδοτος 2001.
J.M. Duffy, D.J. O’ Meara (εκδ.), Michelis Pselli, Philosophica minora, Leibzig, Teubner, 1989-.
A. Gadolin, A theory of society with special reference to the Chronographia of Michael Psellus, Almqvist & Wiksell, 1970.