SOURCE: An Introduction to The Alexiad of Anna Comnena, translated by E. R. A. Sewter, Penguin Books Ltd., 1969, pp. 11-16.

In the following excerpt, Sewter considers various critical evaluations of Anna, as well as Anna's strengths, defects, and self awareness.

'The life of the Emperor Alexius has been delineated by a favourite daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for his person and a laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion of her readers, the Princess Anna Comnena repeatedly protests that besides her personal knowledge she had searched the discourse and writings of the most respectable veterans: that after an interval of thirty years, forgotten by, and forgetful of, the world, her mournful solitude was inaccessible to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked perfect truth, was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent. Yet instead of the simplicity...