Michael Psellus the Younger

Michael Constantine Psellus (Greek: Psellos) the younger, born in 1018 (probably at Nicomedia; according to some, at Constantinople) of a consular and patrician family, was a philosopher. He studied at Athens and Constantinople, where he became intimate with John Xiphilinus. Although he counted consuls and patricians amongst his father's ancestors, his immediate family was so limited in funds that providing a dowry for his sister deprived Psellus of the money to continue his own education.

Writings and Bibliography

Of his works, which are very numerous, many have not yet been printed. A complete list of his works is given in Fabricius (Bibliotheca graeca, x.41). They may be categorized as follows:

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• Scientific and philosophicla treatises. The best known example of this is De Operatione Daemonum, a classification of demons.
• The Chronographica (covering the events from 976 to 1077), which in spite of its bias in favour of the Ducases is a valuable history of his time, chiefly on domestic affairs. This has been translated by E.R.A. Sewter (London: Penguin, 1982 ISBN 0-140441697).
• Various treatises on literary and philological topics.
• Three Epitaphioi or funeral orations over the patriarchs Michael Cerularius, Constantine III Lichoudas and Xiphilinus; as well as panegyrics, persuasive speeches (including works against the Bogomils and Euchites), and nearly 500 personal letters, full of details of the period.
• Rhetorical exercises and essays on set themes.
• Occasional, satirical, and epigrammatic verse

On Psellus himself see:

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• Leo Allatius, De Psellis et eorum scriptis (1634)
• Émile Egger in Dictionnaire des sciences philosophiques (1875)
• Alfred Rambaud in Revue historique (1877)
• PV Bezobrazov, Michel Psellos (1890; in Russian)
• Carl Neumann, Die Weltstellung des byzantinischen Reiches vor den Kreuzzügen (1894)
• Karl Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897)
• JE Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (1906), i. 411.