The entire translated text of the Anna Comena's Alexiad is available. The
translation used is that of dition used is that of Elizabeth A. Dawes, published in London
in 1928. Note that there is a later translation by E.R.A. Sewter, published by Penguin.
Sewter's translation is more "modern" in language, whereas the Dawes version
sticks closer to the Greek text.
The text here is presented as either one complete file, or in "book" length
files.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). The Alexiad. Edited and translated by Elizabeth A.
Dawes. London: Routledge, Kegan, Paul, 1928.
[Dawes' translation was a literal one that kept very closely to the Greek text. This is
useful but not always very readable. There are almost no notes since she referred readers
to Georgina Buckler's great work for further information. Buckler, of course, did not
identify quotations and text references - which are the job of the translator.]
Anna Comnena (Komnene). The Alexiad. Edited and translated by E.R.A. Sewter.
Harmandsworth: Penguin, 1969.
[A more fluid version than Dawes', and with notes, this is the standard translation used
by most Anglophone readers and students. Penguin's refusal to print the canonical
reference for each book and chapter, however, severely limits the utility of the text.]
Anna Comnena (Komnene). The Alexiad. [Alexiad. Modern Greek] ANNHS
KOMNHNHS ALEXIAS. Edited and translated into modern Greek by N. Konstandopoulos
(with I. Papadopoulos). Vol I. (Prologue, Books 1-3). Athens: 1975.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). The Alexiad. [Alexiad. Modern Greek] Translated by Aloe
Sideri. 2 vols. Vol 1: Books 1-9.Athens: Ed. "AGRA", 1990; Vol 2:
Books 10-15 Athens: Ed. "AGRA", 1991.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. Danish] Anna Komnenas Alexiade. Translated O.
A. Hovgård. 2 vols. Copenhagen: 1879-82.
[Apparently the first translation into a modern language.]
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. French] Alexiade. Edited and translated into
French by Bernard Leib with Paul Gautier, 4 vols. Paris: 1937-76.
[For most of the 20th century , Leib's edition has been the scholar's choice.]
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. German] Alexias / Anna Komnene ; übersetzt,
eingeleitet und mit Anmerkungen versehen. ByDiether Roderich Reinsch. Cologne: DuMont
Buchverlag, 1996.
[By all accounts Reinsch's text is now to be preferred by scholars.]
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. Russian.] Aleksiada. Vstup. stat´i`a,
perevod kommentarii. By ´I`A. N. L´i`ubarskii. Moscow: Nauka, Glav. red. vostochnoi
lit-ry, 1965.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. Spanish] La Alexiada / Ana Comneno ; estudio
preliminar y traducción. Translated by Emilio Díaz Rolando. Seville: Editorial
universidad de Sevilla, 1989.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. Italian partial translation] La precrociata di
Roberto il Guiscardo; pagine dall'Alessiade. By Salvatore Impellizzeri. Bari: Dedalo,
1965.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). [Alexiad. Swedish partial translation] Anna Komnenas värld
: Bysans på 1100-talet / Alexiaden i urval med inledning, översättning och kommentarer.
By Sture Linnér. Stockholm : Atlantis, 1993.
Anna Comnena (Komnene). Alexiad. Book 11-13. Anonyme Metaphrase zu Anna Komnene,
Alexias XI-XIII : ein Beitrag zur Erschliessung der byzantinischen Umgangssprache. By
Herbert Hunger. Vienna:: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenchaften, 1981.
Adam, Paul. Princesses Byzantines. La très pieuse Irène. Anne Comnène.
Paris, Firmin-Didot et cie, 1893.
Aerts, W.J. "Anna's Mirror, Attict(istic) or Antiquarian? A Philological
Commentary on the First Chapters of Anna Comnena's Introduction to the Alexiad." XV Congrès international d'études byzantines. Rapports et co-rapports. Vol. II:
Langue, littérature, phliologie. 3ff. Athens: 1935.
Albu, Emily. "Bohemond and the Rooster: Byzantines, Normans, and the Artful
Ruse." In Anna Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen. 157-68.
New York: Garland, 2000.
[On the Byzantines' and Normans' joint high evaluation of trickyness and ruses.]
Andersen, Jeffrey. "Anna Komnene, Learned Women and the Book in Byzantine
Art." In Anna Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen. 125-56.
New York: Garland, 2000.
[Extensive examination of images of women holding books and scrolls in Byzantine art.
Andersen does not really discuss Anna, and the place of the essay in the this book is
really a witness to modern Byzantinists' determination to bring an art-historical
perspective to as many questions as possible.]
Angold, Michael. Church and Society in Byzantium under the Comneni, 1081-1261 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
[Important and massive account of Komnenian society.]
Angold, Michael. The Byzantine Empire 1025-1204. 2nd ed. London; New York:
Longman, 1997.
Antoniades. S. "He perigraphe sten 'Alexiada.' Pos he Anna Komnene Blepei kai
Zoeraphizei prosopa kai charakteres." ELLENIKA 5
(1932): 255-56.
Baldwin, B. "Bohemond Breathing: Problematic Passage in Anna-Comnena Description
in Book-13,10 of The 'Alexiad'." Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 15 (1991):
314-316.
Barrett, Tracy. Anna of Byzantium. New York: Delacorte Press,1999.
[A novel for younger readers.]
Blanken, Gerard H. Glorie der griekse middeleeuwen: Anna Comnena, 1083-1148.
Arnhem, Van Loghum Slaterus, 1953.
Bompaire, Jacques. "La notion de liberté chez Anne Comnène." In La
notion de liberté au Moyen Âge: Islam, Byzance, Occident. Penn-Paris-Dumbarton Oaks
Colloquia IV, session des 12-15 octobre 1982 ; organisée par George Makdisi, Dominique
Sourdel et Janine Sourdel-Thomine ; avec le concours de l'Université de Pennsylvanie,
Dumbarton Oaks et l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). 227-38. Paris, Les Belles
Lettres, 1985.
Bompaire, Jacques. "Remarques sur la culture antique d'Anne Comnène." Revue
des études islamiques 54 (1986): 67-76.
Brand, Charles M. "Anna Comnena: Woman and Historian." Byzantine Studies
Conference. Abstracts of Papers 21 (1995): 13.
Buckler, Georgina. Anna Comnena: A Study. London, Oxford University Press,1929.
[A work that tries to cover all aspects of Anna's work, and that has remained the standard
reference. In fact, it is not quite a monograph and not quite an "encyclopedia of
Anna."]
Chrystomides J. "A Byzantine Historian: Anna Comena." In Medieval
Historical Writing in the Christian and Islamic Worlds. Edited by D.O. Morgan. London:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1982.
Conca, F. "Aspetti tradizionale nella tecnica de Anna Comnena." Acme:
Annali della Facolta de Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università degli Studi di Milano 23,
fasc. I-II. (1980)
Dalven, Rae. Anna Comnena. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972.
[On Anna as a historian.]
Dyck, Andrew. "Iliad and Alexiad: Anna Comnena's Homeric
Reminiscences." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 27 (1986): 113-20.
Foakes-Jackson, F.J., "Anna Comnena." Hibbert Journal 33 (1934-35):
430-42.
France, John. "Anna Comnena, the Alexiad, and the First Crusade." Reading
Medieval Studies 10 (1983): 20-32.
France, John. Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
[See pp. 111-12, 117ff, 144-45, 382, for criticism of Anna's reliability.]
Germaine, Catherine. A Study of the Preservation of the Classical Tradition in the
Education, Language, and Literature of the Byzantine Empire. MA. Thesis: Western
Michigan University, 1989.
Gouma-Petersen, Thalia. "Engendered Category or Recognizable Life: Anna Komnene
and her Alexiad." Byzantinische Forschungen 23 (1996): 25-34.
Gouma-Petersen, Thalia, ed. Anna Komnene and Her Times. New York: Garland, 2000.
[An important collection of new papers. Gouma-Petersen has been at the forefront of those
who realized feminist scholarship has something to offer students of Anna.]
Gouma-Petersen, Thalia. "Gender and Power: Passages to the Maternal in Anna
Komnene's Alexiad." In Anna Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia
Gouma-Petersen. 107-24. New York: Garland, 2000.
[A rare (!) effort to apply the insights of French psychological feminism to Anna.]
Gyoni, M. "Le nom de Blakoi dans l'Alexiade d'Anne Comnene." Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 44 (1951): 241-252
Hanawalt, Emily Albu. William of Apulia's Gesta Roberti Wiscardi and Anna Comnena's
Alexiad: A Literary Comparison. Ph.D. Dissertation: University of California,
Berkeley, 1975.
Hanawalt, Emily Albu. "Vita: Anna Comnena." Harvard Magazine.
March-April 1982: 38-39.
Hill, Barbara. "A Vindication of the Rights of Women to Power by Anna
Komene." Byzantinische Forschungen 23 (1996): 45-52.
[Addresses, inter alia, the question of whether Anna can be considered a feminist.]
Hill, Barbara. "The Ideal Imperial Komnenian Women"Byzantinische
Forschungen 23 (1996): 7-18.
[Essentially uses the funeral oration by Tornikios to construct an image of the ideal
Imperial woman in the 12th century.]
Hill Barbara. "Alexios Komnenos and the Imperial Women." In Alexios I
Komnenos. Edited by Margaret Mullet and Dion Smythe. Belfast Byzantine Texts and
Translations. Vol. I. 37-54. Belfast: Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, School of
Greek and Latin, The Queen's University of Belfast, 1996.
Hill, Barbara. "Actions Speak Louder than Words: Anna Komnene's Attempted
Usurpation." In Anna Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen.
45-62. New York: Garland, 2000.
[Picking up from an earlier paper, Hill is now prepared to use the word
"feminist" about Anna.]
Hill, Barbara. Imperial Women in Byzantium 1025-1204: Power, Patronage and Ideology.
London; New York: Longman, 2000
Horrocks, Geoffrey. Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers. London;
New York: Longman, 1997.
Pp. 175-78: 'The New Atticism: Anna Komene."
Howard-Johnson, James. "Anna Komnene and the Alexiad." In Alexios I
Komnenos. Edited by Margaret Mullet and Dion Smythe. Belfast Byzantine Texts and
Translations. Vol. I. 260-301. Belfast: Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, School of
Greek and Latin, The Queen's University of Belfast, 1996.
[Notorious article in which this Oxford historian seeks to deny Anna's authorship of the Alexiad and to claim that the military accounts in the Alexiad were by her husband
Nicephorus Bryennios. See Macrides and other others in the Anna Komnene and her Times collection for some sharp rebuttals.]
James, George P.R., ed. Memoirs of Celebrated Women. Philadelphia : E. L. Carey,
1839.
[Vol. 1. For Anna]
Jurewicz, O. "Anna Komnene: Kronprinzessin und Schriftstellerin." In Greichenland-Byzanz-Europa,
Ein Studienband. Edited by J. Hermann, H. Köpstein, and R. Müller. 50 ff. Berlin:
1985.
Kambylis, A. "Zum 'Programm' der byzantinischen Historikerin Anna Komnene." DWPHMA Hans Diller zum 70. Geburtstag. 127-46. Athens: 1975.
Karpozilos, Apostolos. "'Charax'/'Charkenos' in the 'Alexiad' of Anna
Comnena." Byzantinoslavica 56:2 (1995): 407-09.
[Charax is identified tentatively as a trading post near Nikomedia; Anna Komnene used the
geographic terms to refer to the man who impersonated Leo, the son of the emperor Romanus
IV Diogenes.]
Katicic, R. "Anna Komnene kai ho Homeros." Epeteris Hetairias Byzantinon
Spoudon 27 (1957): 213-23.
Krumbacher, Karl. Geschichte. d. byzantinische. Lit. 2d ed. 1902.
Discusses Anna Commena, pp. 274-279. He mentions Walter Scott's Count Robert of Paris as "a rather unlucky reproduction" of the Alexiad.
Landman, Christina. "Anna Comnena's Concept of Woman." Acta Patristica et
Byzantina 8 (1997): 105-114.
Laiou, Angeliki. "Introduction: Why Anna Komnene?" In Anna Komnene and Her
Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen. 1-14. New York: Garland, 2000.
Leib, Bernard. "Les silences d'Anne Comnène." Byzantinoslavica 19
(1958): 1-10.
Leib, Bernard. "Aperçus sur l'époque des premiers Comnènes : Le rôle des
femmes, Alexis I Comnène, Anne Comnène. " Collectanea byzantina 1-64.
Orientalia Christiana Analecta 204. Rome : Pontificium Institutum Orientalium Studiorum,
1977.
Lilie, Ralph-Johannes. Byzanz und die Kreuzfahrerstaaten. English. Byzantium
and the Crusader States, 1096-1204. Translated by J.C. Morris and Jean E. Ridings.
Rev. 1988. Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1993.
[German: Byzanz und die Kreuzfahrerstaaten : Studien der Politik des byzantinischen
Reiches gegenüber den Staaten der Kreuzfahrer in Syrien und Palästina bis zum vierten
Kreuzzug (1096-1204). Munich: W. Fink, 1981. [Series title: Poikila Byzantina ; 1,
Poikila Vyzantina ; 1.]]
Lilie, Ralph-Johanne. "Der erste Kreuzzug in der Darstellung Anna Komnene."
In Varia II. Edited by P. Speck, Ralph-Johanne Lilie et al. POIKILA
BUZANTINA 6. 49-148. Bonn: 1987.
Lilie, Ralph-Johanne. "Anna Comnena and the Latins." [translation of German
title?] Byzantinoslavica 54 (1993): 169-82.
Linnér. Sture. "Psellus' Chronographia and the Alexias: Some Textual
Parallels." Byzantinische Zeitschrift 76 (1983): 1-9.
Ljubarskij, Jakov. "Why is the Alexiad a Masterpiece of Byzantine
Literature." In LEIMWN Studies Presented to Lennart
Rydén. Edited by Jan Olaf Rosenqvist. 127-41. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet ;
Stockholm : distributed by Almquist and Wiksell international, 1996.
Ljubarskij, Jakov. "Why is the Alexiad a Masterpiece of Byzantine
Literature." In Anna Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen.
169-86. New York: Garland, 2000.
[An expansion of his 1996 article. Assesses the Alexiad from the standpoint of
Aristotelian unities, and sees real artistry in Anna's execution of her plan.]
Loud, G.A. "Anna Komnena and her Sources for the Normans of Southern Italy:
[Byzantine historian's sources examined]." In Church
and Chronicle in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to John Taylor. Edited by Ian Wood
and G.A. Loud. 41-57. London; Rio Grande, Ohio: Hambledon Press, 1991.
Macrides, Ruth. "The Historian in the History" In FILLELLHN Studies in Honour of Robert Browning. Edited by C. Constantinides et al. 205-24.
Venice: 1996.
[Looks at self-interjection by Byzantine historians -- a challenge to classical norms of
historiography. Anna does this more than any other historian.]
Macrides, Ruth. "The Pen and the Sword: Who Wrote the Alexiad?" In Anna
Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen. 63-82. New York: Garland,
2000.
[Macrides' response to Howard-Johnson -- just about manages to be polite.]
Magdalino, Paul. The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos 1143-1180 Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993.
Magdalino, Paul. "The Pen of the Aunt: Echoes of the Mid-Twelth Century." In Anna
Komnene and Her Times. Edited by Thalia Gouma-Petersen. 15-44. New York: Garland,
2000.
[Magdalino considers the Alexiad from the angle of the time it was written -- under
Manuel I -- rather than the time it is about. By doing this he is able to address some of
the reasons Anna might have arranged events as she did -- as well as accusations about her
"misinformation" by modern authors such as John France.]
Maltese, Ev. "Anna-Comnena in the Sea of Misfortunes ('Alexiad' Book-14,7,4) - A
Textual Interpretation." [translation of Italian title?] Byzantinische Zeitschrift 80, No. 1 (1987): 1-2.
Mitchison, Naomi. "Anna Comnena." In Representative Women. London:
1928.
Morelli, Patrizia. Anna Comnena: la poetessa epica (c. 1083-c. 1148-1153). Milan: Jaca book, 1998.
Mutafchieva, Vera P.. Az, Anna Komnina: roman. Sofia: Izd-vo "Khemus,"
1991.
[Bulgarian novel on Anna.]
Neumann, Carl. Griechische Geschichtschreiber und Geschichtsquellen im zwölften
Jahrhundert;, Studien zu Anna Comnena, Theod. Prodromus, Joh. Cinnamus. New York, B.
Franklin, 1971
Oster, E. Anna Komnena. I-III. Rastatt: W. Mayer, 1868-1871.
Reinsch, Diether R. "The 1562 Editio-Princeps of an Excerpt from Anna-Comnena
'Alexias' - A Representative of an Independent Tradition." [translation of German
title"] Byzantinische Zeitschrift 84-5 (1992): 12-16.
Reinsch, Diether R. "An Alleged Interpolation in the 'Alexias' of Anna
Comnena." [translation of German title?] Byzantinische Zeitschrift 82, No. 1-2
(1989): 69-72.
Reinsch, Diether R. "Zur literarischen Leistung der Anna Komnene." In LEIMWN Studies Presented to Lennart Rydén. Edited by Jan Olaf
Rosenqvist. 113-25. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet ; Stockholm : distributed by Almquist and
Wiksell international, 1996.
Reinsch, Diether R. "Womens' Literature in Byzantium? -- The Case of Anna
Komnene." Translated by Thomas Dunlap. In Anna Komnene and Her Times. Edited
by Thalia Gouma-Petersen. 83-106. New York: Garland, 2000.
Rolando, E.D. Las fuentes clásicas de la Alexiada de Ana Comnena. Ph.D.
Dissertation: Seville, 1994.
Rolando, E.D. "Ana Comnena y la historiografía de periodo clásico: Apromación a
un debate." Erytheia 13 (1992): 29-44.
Roueché, Charlotte. "Georgina Buckler: The Making of a British Byzantinist."
In The Making of Byzantine History: Studies Dedicated to Donald M. Nicol. Edited by
Roderick Beaton and Charlotte Roueché. 1974-96. Aldershot: Variorum, 1993.
[Paper on Anna's foremost commentator.]
Scott, Sir Walter. Count Robert of Paris (1832).
Scott uses the Alexiad as a source..
Shahan, Thomas. "Anna Comnena." Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Vol
1:351
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01531a.htm
[Classic example of a negative evaluation of Anna.]
Skoulatos, Basile. Les personnages byzantins de l'Alexiade : analyse
prosopographique et synthèse. Louvain-la-Neuve : Bureau du recueil, Collège Erasme ;
Louvain: Nauwelaerts, 1980.
[Series title: Recueil de travaux d'histoire et de philologie / Université de Louvain ;
6e sér., fasc. 20, Recueil de travaux d'histoire et de philologie ; 6e sér., fasc. 20.]
Du Sommerard, Louis. Deux princesses d'Orient au XIIe siècle: Anne Comnène,
témoin des croisades; Agnès de France. Paris: Perrin et cie, 1907.
Takács, Sarolta A. "Convergence of Silence and Articulation: Anna Komnena's
Filial Devotion and Philosophical Zeal." Byzantine Studies Conference. Abstracts
of Papers 21 (1995): 16.
Takács, Sarolta A.. "Oracles and Science: Anna Comnena's Comments on
Astrology." Byzantinische Forschungen 23 (1996): 35-44.
Takács, Sarolta A. "Convergence of Silence and Articulation: Anna Komnene's
Filial Devotion and Philosophical Zeal."' Byzantine Studies Conference: Abstracts
of Papers 21 (1995): 16.
Thomas R.D.. "Anna Comnena's Account of the First Crusade: History and Politics in
the Reigns of the Emperors Alexius I and Manuel I Comnenus." Byzantine and Modern
Greek Studies 15 (1991): 269-312.
Tuilier, André, "Byzance et la féodalité occidentale: les vertus guerrières
des premiers croisés daprès lAlexiade dAnne Comnène." In La
guerre et la paix: frontières et violences au moyen âge. Actes du 101e Congrès
national des sociétés savantes, Lille, 1976, Section de philologie et d'histoire
jusqu'à 1610. 35-50. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1978.
Weyl-Carr, Annemarie [et al.]. Revised Papers that were Originally Read at the
Session Entitled "Komnenian culture": Papers from the Session at the 20th Annual
Byzantine Studies Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 21 September 1994 [aka Komnenian
culture: 20th annual Byzantine Studies Conference] Amsterdam : A.M. Hakkert, 1996.
[Aka Byzantinische Forschungen. 23 (1996)]