Anna Komnena: The Matriarch of Story

     Born in 1083 A.D. in Constantinople's famous Purple Room, Anna Komnena was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Komnena. Anna is the writer of a book called The Alexiad, the tale of her father's life as the emperor. Alexius is most well known as the emperor who asked Pope Urban to send mercenaries to help fight the Turks. However, Urban decided this was a great opportunity to preach the spread of Christianity by the sword and single-handedly put the wheels of the first crusade into motion. The story of Alexius however was more than just the Crusade. He was an able general who kept his kingdom from falling to its many enemies and set up the empire to last over 300 more years.

A little known fact about Anna Komnena is that she was awesome! Here she is reading a passage from the Book of Armaments. See that cross in the bottom left corner...have you looked at the top of the Holy Hand Grenade lately?

     Anna is one of the first female writers we know about. While her gender is why she gets the title Matriarch of History for this blog entry, the quality of her work is what earns her mention. She was trained in a good literary and historical background knowing the writers the Byzantines considered prominent. She was also very devoted to both of her parents and wanted to make sure their story was preserved for all time.

Anna gives an explanation for why she wrote this book saying:

" The tale of history forms a very strong bulwark against the stream of time, and to some extent checks its irresistible flow, and, of all things done in it, as many as history has taken over, it secures and binds together, and does not allow them to slip away into the abyss of oblivion".

     Anna says that the stream of time wipes away the accounts of men both great and average. That time is unstoppable and the deeds of the past all end up forgotten. However, history is the dam that protects knowledge. When we engage in history we honor those of the past who helped change their world. We honor the achievements of our ancestors and show that history does not have to repeat itself.  Even more importantly in my opinion is understanding. Not only can we prevent bad things from happening again and again, but at a deeper level we can learn who we are. Only through the lenses of how other people think and the stories that they tell can we learn to craft our own stories. What makes us different? What do we have to contribute to the world?

    There is a reason that many writers say that people who are avid readers make the best writers. This is because when we understand what makes us different, we can understand what we have to offer.

-Jason