Psellos sent festal gifts to the families of Konstantinos X, Ioannes kaisar & the patriarch; letters often explore symbolism

Summary:
Psellos sent festal gifts (undatable) to Konstantinos X, Eudokia, Michael (VII) and Ioannes kaisar. The gifts are natural products: fruit, bread, wine, and fish and nuts of several kinds. There is often an apology for the simplicity of the gift (appropriate to a philosopher). The letters add a wide variety of symbolic meanings 
Dates:
1063 (Uncertain) 
Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa (Eudokia 1)
  • She received an encomium from Michael 61 apologising for a poor philosopher's gift of bread, wine and fruit; she should receive the bread as the bread of life, the wine as spiritual joy, the fruit as grace and mystic beauty (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 271, 316.1-18
  • She was expected to share in four fish sent by Michael 61 to Konstantinos 10 with symbolic meanings, to be eaten by Konstantinos, Michael 7 and Eudokia, the lion, cub and lioness; Psellos asked for this to be explained to Eudokia (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 104.346-347
  • She received an encomium from Michael 61 with a poor gift of bread, wine and fruit; she should receive the bread as fertile ground for action, the wine as a vine watered by life, the fruit as pleasure and delight, a joy that brings no surfeit (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 272, 316.19-317.6
  • She deserved a gift from Michael 61 of fruit, wine and bread from paradise, even from the tree of life, spiritual paradise as she was; but instead Psellos, her most grateful servant, brought her flowers, as above all female and male nature (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 132.377
  • She received from Christ (wrote Michael 61) an apple, as having the beauty and grace of a flower, wine, being the embodiment of joy, and bread, as she supported many poor people; she surpassed all womankind in physical and moral beauty (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 53.284
Ioannes Doukas, kaisar (Ioannes 62)
  • He had from Michael 61 a hazel-nut, smaller than usual; others are round, but these have husks like a mouse-hole with the fruit escaping inside, or a cuttlefish fleeing a hunter; nuts must not be treated as animals - nature just covered them correctly (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 235, 285.18-286.14
  • He was told by Michael 61 that letters and grapes are both refreshing; grapes may be eaten as they are or made into wine, and letters have an oral impact or may be read; they have different tones, whiter, blacker or mixed, and can be sent together (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 238, 288.12-289.7
  • If he was the recipient, he received a letter from Michael 61 with a gift of walnuts; Psellos told him how the symmetrical segments are all but enclosed in two shells and speculated on the origins of the word “walnut” (:) Psellos Letters (Gautier) 26.1-18
  • He might be annoyed by the light skins of the chestnuts, especially the last, which held the fruit very tightly; Psellos, who sent them picked them carefully like roses, avoiding the thorns, and discussed the relation of natural covering to shape (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 236, 286.15-287.10
  • He was sent another fruit with a text by Michael 61: nature is not random in providing shells, as fruit also has internal security; stones secretly hold them together, making shells redundant; the stone is a guardian, as in Plato's Republic (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 239, 289.8-240.4
  • He received from Michael 61 the first picking of fruit, with unusual growth, capturing the sun of early spring; carefully picked and eaten, it had a complexity which surpassed the whole year's production (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 234, 284.6-285.17
  • It is pointless (he was told by Michael 61) sending a letter with a melon, which is self-explanatory, not as firm as an apple, nor soft, but of medium firmness; despite their delicious taste they were cheap, as plentiful as the elements (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 237, 287.11-288.11
Emperor Konstantinos X Doukas (Konstantinos 10)
  • He was sent by Michael 61 three leukoskaroi: three the mystic number for Trinity, white for purity, and skaroi for eloquence, since skaroi are very eloquent fish (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 48.280
  • He was brought the following by Michael 61: bread, as he was the bread of life, wine as an emperor who cheers gloomy hearts, and fruit, as a symbol of mortality; but may he live for ever! (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 52.283
  • He was sent four fish by Michael 61 with symbolic meanings, to be eaten by himself, Michael 7 and Eudokia 1, the lion, cub and lioness; Psellos asked for this symbolism to be explained to Eudokia (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 74.309
  • He received from Michael 61 the best of this earth: fruit, wine and bread, all simple but right for a philosophical emperor to enjoy, since ambrosia, nectar and wood of the tree of life were unavailable (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 137.380
Konstantinos III Leichoudes, patriarch of Constantinople (Konstantinos 13)
  • He was sent by Michael 61 bread, wine and fruit, poor gifts, but each of different significance for an ascetic; Psellos referred to Kouzenas as Leichoudes' birthplace (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 68.299-300
Emperor Michael VII Doukas (Michael 7)
  • He was expected to share in four fish which were sent by Michael 61 to Konstantinos 10 with symbolic meanings, to be eaten by Konstantinos, Michael and Eudokia 1, the lion, cub and lioness (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 104.346-347
  • He received from Michael 61 a letter with a gift of two bunches of grapes full of must; he should become not just a vine, but a tall tree-vine, full of flowers, beauties and graces (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 74.309
Michael Psellos (named Konstantinos till tonsure in 1054) (Michael 61)
  • He sent Ioannes 62 a hazel-nut, smaller than usual; others are round, but these have husks like a mouse-hole with the fruit escaping inside, or a cuttlefish fleeing a hunter; nuts must not be treated as animals - nature just covered them correctly (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 235, 285.18-286.14
  • Letters and grapes (he told Ioannes 62) are both refreshing; grapes may be eaten as they are or made into wine, and letters have an oral impact or may be read; they have different tones, whiter, blacker or mixed, and can be sent together (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 238, 288.12-289.7
  • Walnuts too need letters; thinking nature to be purposeful, he told (Ioannes 62) how the symmetrical segments are all but enclosed in two shells; the word karya may come not from Caria but kara (head), as the nut's inside is like parts of the brain (:) Psellos Letters (Gautier) 26.1-18
  • He wrote to Michael 7 with a gift of two bunches of grapes full of must; the young emperor was to become not just a vine, but a tall tree-vine, full of flowers, beauties and graces (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 74.309
  • An encomium of Eudokia 1, with a poor philosopher's gift of bread, wine and fruit; she should receive the bread as fertile ground for action, the wine as a vine watered by life, the fruit as pleasure and delight, a joy that brings no surfeit (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 272, 316.19-317.6
  • He should have given Eudokia 1 fruit, wine and bread from paradise, even from the tree of life, spiritual paradise as she was; but instead her most grateful servant has brought her flowers, as above all female and male nature (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 132.377
  • Ioannes 62 would be annoyed by the light skins of the chestnuts, especially the last, which held the fruit very tightly; Psellos picked them carefully like roses, avoiding the thorns, and discussed the relation of natural covering to shape (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 236, 286.15-287.10
  • He sent Konstantinos 10 three leukoskaroi: three the mystic number for Trinity, white for purity, and skaroi for eloquence, since skaroi are very eloquent fish (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 48.280
  • He decided to add a text for Ioannes 62 on another fruit: nature is not random in providing shells, as fruit also has internal security; stones secretly hold them together, making shells redundant; the stone is a guardian, as in Plato's Republic (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 239, 289.8-240.4
  • He sent four fish to Konstantinos 10 with symbolic meanings, to be eaten by Konstantinos, Michael 7 and Eudokia 1, the lion, cub and lioness; he asked for this to be explained to Eudokia, his benefactor, empress and (spiritual) niece (:) εὐεργέτιν, βασιλίδα, εἴπω καὶ τὸ ἀπόρρητον, καὶ ἀνεψιάν Psellos Letters (Sathas) 104.346-347
  • Psellos sent Ioannes 62 the first picking of fruit, with unusual growth, capturing the sun of early spring; carefully picked and eaten, it had a complexity which surpassed the whole year's production (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 234, 284.6-285.17
  • He brought Konstantinos 10 bread, as he was the bread of life, wine as an emperor who cheers gloomy hearts, and fruit, as a symbol of mortality; but may he live for ever! (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 52.283
  • He wished to bring Konstantinos 10 immortal ambrosia or nectar or wood of the tree of life; but since he could not, he sent the best of this earth: fruit, wine and bread, all simple but right for a philosophical emperor to enjoy (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 137.380
  • It is pointless (he told Ioannes 62) sending a letter with a melon, which is self-explanatory, not as firm as an apple, nor completely soft, but of medium firmness; despite their delicious taste they were cheap, as plentiful as the elements (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 237, 287.11-288.11
  • An encomium of Eudokia 1, apologising for a poor philosopher's gift of bread, wine and fruit; she should receive the bread as the bread of life, the wine as spiritual joy, the fruit as grace and mystic beauty (:) Psellos Letters (K - D) 271, 316.1-18
  • He sent an encomium to Eudokia 1 with a gift of bread, wine and fruit Psellos Letters (K - D) 271, 316.1-18
  • He sent Ioannes 62 a kind of hazel-nut, smaller than usual Psellos Letters (K - D) 235, 285.18-286.14
  • He wrote to Michael 7 with a gift of two bunches of grapes Psellos Letters (Sathas) 74.309
  • He sent another encomium to Eudokia 1 with a gift of bread, wine and fruit Psellos Letters (K - D) 272, 316.19-317.6
  • He wrote to Ioannes 62 about chestnuts Psellos Letters (K - D) 236, 286.15-287.10
  • He sent four fish to Konstantinos 10 with symbolic meanings Psellos Letters (Sathas) 104.346-347
  • He sent Konstantinos 10 three leukoskaroi (fish) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 48.280
  • He told Ioannes 62 that it was pointless sending a letter with a melon Psellos Letters (K - D) 237, 287.11-288.11
  • He wrote a letter to accompany a gift of flowers to Eudokia 1 Psellos Letters (Sathas) 132.377
  • He sent a letter to (Ioannes 62) with a gift of walnuts Psellos Letters (Gautier) 26.1-18
  • He brought Konstantinos 10 bread, wine and fruit Psellos Letters (Sathas) 52.283
  • He wrote to Ioannes 62, saying that letters were like grapes Psellos Letters (K - D) 238, 288.12-289.7
  • He brought Konstantinos 10 the best of this earth: fruit, wine and bread Psellos Letters (Sathas) 137.380
  • He wrote to Ioannes 62 on nature's alternatives of shells and stones Psellos Letters (K - D) 239, 289.8-240.4
  • Psellos sent Ioannes 62 the first picking of fruit Psellos Letters (K - D) 234, 284.6-285.17
  • He wrote that Christ gave Eudokia 1 an apple, wine and bread Psellos Letters (Sathas) 53.284
  • Psellos sent Konstantinos 13 bread, wine and fruit, poor gifts, but each of different significance for an ascetic; he referred to Kouzenas as Leichoudes' birthplace (:) Psellos Letters (Sathas) 68.299-300