Byzantine princess and author of The Alexiod, a history of her father, the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. Her colorful career began with murderous plotting against her brother, followed by retirement from court, and an embrace of a more contemplative life of writing history (The Alexiod). She seemed to epitomize a society devoted to ambition, intrigue, plots, violence, ruthlessness, wealth, power, pleasure, fame, personal glory, and selfishness, but also suffused with religion and tempered by a high literary and artistic culture.