Anna Of Byzantium

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes the source text’s depiction of enslavement and child marriage.

Anna Komnene lives amongst nuns at a convent, though she is a princess. Participating in their rigid routine and severe way of life, she is increasingly discontent and bored. During dinner one evening, she finds herself daydreaming about the betrothal banquet that her father once held for her at the imperial palace, reminiscing about the luxury and joy of the event. Noticing her detachment and declining mood, the mother superior asks if there is anything Anna needs. She asks if she could be allowed to join the nuns who work in the copying room, and the mother superior replies that she will first need to gain permission from the emperor. Anna chafes at having her actions so controlled by her younger brother, whom she despises.

Word arrives that the emperor, Anna’s brother, has granted permission for Anna to copy documents with the nuns. She begins to work at the scriptorium under the strict guidance of Sister Thekla. During the meditative copying work, she is absorbed by memories of her childhood tutor, Simon, a eunuch and enslaved person who taught the imperial children and managed the imperial library.