Abstract
It is with these words that Anna Komnene describes the Western warrior Bohemond, one of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos’s foremost adversaries, in what is one of the lengthiest physical descriptions of characters to be found in the Alexiad, Anna’s account of her father’s reign. The vivid pen-portrait, written years after Anna Komnene had first set eyes upon Bohemond in her father’s court, appears, at least at first glance, to offer a rare insight into a woman’s account of a beautiful male body through an elaborate description indulging the reader’s imagination. Bohemond’s beautiful body is discussed in detail; its individual features, from the figure’s height, build and physique to the particulars of his blondish hair (komi ypoxanthos), ruddy beard (geneion pyrson) and blue eyes, are vividly described.
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