Greek-Byzantine poet and composer

I am a history buff, especially, if it is related to the history of music, art and literature. While I was doing a research for local web analytics company, I discovered the story of Kassia from Byzantium. She was a Greek-Byzantine poet, composer, and hymnographer. She was born between 805 and 810 in Constantinople into an aristocratic family. Kassia was a participant in the "bride show", organized for Theophilus by his mother Euphrosyne. Smitten by Kassia's beauty the young emperor Theophilus approached her but he did not like her answers. So he chose another bride, Theodora.

Kassia founded a convent in 843 in the west of Constantinople near the walls of Constantine and became its first abbess. Although many scholars attribute this to bitterness at having failed to marry Theophilos, a letter from Theodore the Studite indicates that she had other motivations for wanting a monastic life. It had a close relationship with the nearby monastery of Stoudios, which has to play a central role in re-editing the Byzantine liturgical books in the 9th century and the 10th century, so were important in ensuring the survival of her work.

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