Michael Psellos

Michael Psellos, also spelled Psellus and born around 1018, was a Byzantine monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist who served as a high-ranking advisor to several Byzantine emperors and helped reposition their power. He is credited with reviving Byzantine classical studies in a way that later influenced the Italian Renaissance, and with reading Homeric literature and Platonic philosophy as precursors to Christian doctrine, combining theology, philosophy and psychology in his writing. His best known works include the Commentary on Plato's Teachings on the Origin of the Soul and the Chronographia, a series of biographies running from Emperor Basil II to Nikephoros III that remains a valuable source for eleventh century Byzantine history. Sources disagree on the year of his death, with some placing it in 1078 and others holding he lived until 1096. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/