Attaleiates, Michael

   Historian and jurist, and a younger contemporary of Michael Psellos (q.v.), who wrote an eyewitness account of the period from 1034-1079. His description of the last Macedonian (q.v.) emperors, and of the period of troubles that preceded the reign ofAlexios I Komnenos (q.v.), is an invaluable companionto the Chronographia of Michael Psellos (q.v.). To some extent it is also a corrective, since Attaleiates defends Romanos IV and Nikephoros III (qq.v.), both of whom he served under. His work is dedicated to Nikephoros III, whom he praises.