Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PSELLUS (Gr.'I' XXor)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 541 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PSELLUS (Gr.'I' XXor) , the name of several See also:Byzantine writers, of whom the following may be mentioned: I. See also:MICHAEL PSELLUS the See also:elder, a native of See also:Andros and a See also:pupil of See also:Photius, who flourished in the second See also:half of the 9th See also:century. His study of the Alexandrine See also:theology, as well as of profane literature, brought him under the suspicions of the orthodox, and a former pupil of his, by name See also:Constantine, accused him in an elegiac poem of having abandoned See also:Christianity. In See also:order to perfect his knowledge of See also:Christian See also:doctrine, Psellus had recourse to the instructions of Photius, and then replied to his adversary in a See also:long See also:iambic poem, in which he maintained his orthodoxy. None of his See also:works has been preserved. 2. MICHAEL CONSTANTINE PSELLUS the younger, See also:born in Io18 (probably at See also:Nicomedia; according to some, at See also:Constantinople) of a consular and patrician See also:family. He studied at See also:Athens and Constantinople, where he became intimate with See also:John See also:Xiphilinus. Under Constantine Monomachus (1042-1054) he became one of the most influential men in the See also:empire. As See also:professor of See also:philosophy at the newly founded See also:academy of Constantinople he revived the cult of See also:Plato at a See also:time when See also:Aristotle held the See also:field; this, together with his admiration for the old See also:pagan glories of Hellas, aroused suspicions as to his orthodoxy. At the height of his success as a teacher he was recalled to See also:court, where he became See also:state secretary and vestarch, with the honorary See also:title of "Tlraroc r&av (Ist ocrh xav (See also:prince of philosophers). Following the example of his friend Xiphilinus he entered the monastery of See also:Olympus (near Prusa in See also:Bithynia), where he assumed the name of Michael.

But, finding the See also:

life little to his See also:taste, he resumed his public career. Under See also:Isaac See also:Comnenus and Constantine See also:Ducas he exercised See also:great See also:influence, and was See also:prime See also:minister during the regency of Eudocia and the reign of his pupil Michael Parapinaces (1071-1078). It is probable that he died soon after the fall of Parapinaces. Living during the most See also:melancholy See also:period of Byzantine See also:history, Psellus exhibited the worst faults of his See also:age. He was servile and unscrupulous, weak, fond of intrigue, intolerably vain and ambitious. But as a See also:literary See also:man his See also:intellect was of the highest order. In the extent of his knowledge, in keenness of observation, in variety of See also:style, in his literary output, he has been compared to See also:Voltaire; but it is perhaps as the forerunner of the great See also:Renaissance Platonists that he will be chiefly remembered. His works embraced politics, See also:astronomy, See also:medicine, See also:music, theology, See also:jurisprudence, physics, See also:grammar and history. Of his works, which are very numerous, many have not yet been printed. We may mention: Chronographia (from 976-1077), which in spite of its See also:bias in favour of the Ducases is a valuable history of his time, chiefly on domestic affairs; three Epitaphioi or funeral orations over the patriarchs Cerularius, Lichudes and Xiphilinus. His letters (nearly 500 in number) are also full of details of the period. A See also:complete See also:list of his works is given in See also:Fabricius, Bibliotheca graeca, x.

41; the most important have been published by C. Sathas in his Meaaa voc,i l3LVXL06.hieI, iv, v. On Psellus himself see See also:

Leo Allatius, De Psellis et eorum scriptis (1634); E. See also:Egger in Dictionnaire See also:des sciences philosophiques (1875); A. See also:Rambaud in Revue historique (1877); P. V. Bezobrazov, See also:Michel Psellos (189o; in See also:Russian); C. See also:Neumann, See also:Die Weltstellung des byzantinischen Reiches vor den Kreuzziigen (1894) ; C. See also:Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897) J. E. See also:Sandys, Hist. of Classical Scholarship (1906), i. 411.

PSEUDO-See also:

DIPTERAL (Gr. 1/teuhi7s, false, See also:Sis, See also:double, and serepbv, a wing), the See also:term given to a dipteral See also:temple, i.e. in which there are two rows of columns See also:round the naos, the inner See also:row of which has been omitted to give more space for the processions or for shelter (see TEMPLE).

End of Article: PSELLUS (Gr.'I' XXor)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PSAMMETICHUS (Egypt. Psammetk) 		[next]
PSEUDONYM (Gr. >l ev&,vuµos, having a false name, ...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries