Michael Attaleiates

Michael Attaleiates or Attaliates (Greek: Μιχαήλ Ἀτταλειάτης) (c.1022-1080) was a Byzantine public servant and historian active in Constantinople and around the empire's provinces in the second half of the eleventh century. He was a younger contemporary (possibly even a student) of Michael Psellos and likely an older colleague of John Skylitzes, the two other Byzantine historians of the eleventh century whose work survives.

Michael Attaleiates was probably a native of Attaleia (now Antalya, in Turkey) and moved to Constantinople between 1030 and 1040 to pursue studies in law. During years of service in the empire's judicial system he built a small private fortune. Prominence on the judge's bench also brought him to the attention of a number of emperors who rewarded him with some of the highest honours available to civil servants (patrikios and anthypatos).

In 1072 Attaleiates compiled for Emperor Michael VII a synopsis of law, known as the Ponema Nomikon, based on the late ninth-century Basilika.

In addition he drew up an Ordinance for the Poor House and Monastery which he founded at Constantinople in the mid-1070s. This work, known as the Diataxis, is of value for students of the social, economic, cultural and religious history of Byzantium in Constantinople and the provinces during the eleventh century. It also provides invaluable information regarding the life of Attaleiates himself. It includes a catalogue of the books available in the monastery's library, while also offering details about the founder's fortune in the capital and in Thrace. From the Diataxis we learn that Attaleiates owned numerous properties (both farms and urban real estate) in Constantinople, Raidestos (mod. Tekirdag), Selymbria (mod. Silivri).

Around 1079/80 Michael Attaleiates circulated The History, a political and military history of the Byzantine Empire from 1034 to 1079. This vivid and largely reliable presentation of the empire's declining fortunes after the end of the Macedonian dynasty, offered Attaleiates the opportunity to engage with political questions of his time also addressed, albeit often from a different point of view, by his contemporary Michael Psellos.The History concludes with a long encomium to Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, to whom the whole work is dedicated. On account of this encomium and dedication, Attaleiates was for years considered an honest supporter of this elderly and largely ineffective emperor. Careful reading of his text, however, suggests that the words of praise may be less than honest. Instead Attaleiates appears to be partial towards the young military commander and future emperor Alexios Komnenos.

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