Editing Michael Psellos (section)

==''Chronographia''== 
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[[File:Psellos on Zoe BNF Grec 1712 f. 368v.jpg|thumb|280x280px|Excerpt from ''Chronographia'' discussing [[Zoë Porphyrogenita|empress Zoe]]'s love of perfumes,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Garland |first=Lynda |author-link=Lynda Garland |date=1988 |title=The Life and Ideology of Byzantine Women: A Further Note on Conventions of Behaviour and Social Reality as Reflected in Eleventh and Twelfth Century Historical Sources |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44171058 |journal=Byzantion |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=377–378 |jstor=44171058 |issn=0378-2506}}</ref> 15th century copy]]
The ''Chronographia'' ({{Langx|el|Χρονογραφία}}), a history of the Byzantine emperors during the 100 years leading up to Psellos' own time, is probably Psellos' best known and most accessible work. It covers the reigns of 14 emperors and empresses, beginning with the almost 50-year-long reign of [[Basil II|Basil II, the "Bulgar-Slayer"]] (976–1025), and ending some time during the reign of [[Michael VII Doukas]] (1071–1078). It is structured mainly as a series of biographies. Unlike most other historiographical works of the period, it emphasizes the description of characters rather than details of political and military events. It also includes extensive autobiographical elements about Psellos' political and intellectual development, and it gives far greater weight to those periods when Psellos was active in politics, especially the reign of Constantine IX, giving the whole work almost the character of a political memoir. It is believed to have been written in two parts. The first covers the emperors up to [[Isaac I Komnenos]]. The second, which has a much more strongly apologetic tone, is in large parts an [[encomium]] on Psellus' protectors, the emperors of the Doukas dynasty.

[[Byzantine studies|Byzantinist]] historian [[Judith Herrin]] said: "This book by Michael Psellus is so fascinating that if you only read one book about Byzantium, by a Byzantine, that would be the one I’d choose".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Books |first=Five |title=Byzantium |url=https://fivebooks.com/best-books/best-books-byzantium-judith-herrin/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=Five Books |language=en}}</ref> 
[[File:Rulers of Byzantine Empire in XI century..pdf|thumb|Rulers of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century. Based on ''Chronographia.'']]