Anna Komnene
While she lived there, Anna wrote her book, The Alexiad. “The Alexiad” is a lengthy biography of her father’s reign and the Byzantine Empire. It provides a picture of religious and intellectual activities within the empire. Anna writes about the faults and flaws in her father’s reign as well as the successes and accomplishments. The 15 books of The Alexiad are written solely in Greek. Anne is the only female historian who wrote in Greek before the 19th century. She is also one of very few female authors and historians from Byzantium and was viewed as lesser by many. Her book is still important because Anna had access to the royal archives and had an inside view of politics. Her book remains one of the essential primary sources for Byzantine history and is a common read for those studying the time period.