Anna Comnena (1083-1153 / 54) as a defender of classical roman law. On the question of the transformation of an elective monarchy into a hereditary one

The article develops the position expressed by the author in the monograph The Time of Anna Komnena , which is that the unsuccessful coup undertaken by Anna Komnena against her younger brother, the Emperor John II Komnenos (1118-1143), was due to the desire of Anna Komnena to protect the Ancient Roman legal tradition of electing the Emperor, which continued to exist in Byzantium. The author explores the motives of Anna Komnena, based on the text of the Alexiad , on the story of Nicetas Choniates about the unsuccessful coup of 1118, and on the Roman-Byzantine monuments of law. The author’s conclusion is that the unsuccessful coup of 1118 was an attempt by Anna Komnena to repeat the actions of her father - Emperor Alexios I (1081-1118) and his uncle - Emperor Isaac I (1057-1059), who conquered the imperial porphyry with a sword in their hands, and did not inherit it.