The idea to publish the text of Photius, the Most Holy Patriarch of Constantinople, from the letter to Michael, the Ruler of Bulgaria: What is the work of a ruler (letter VIII), originated from a positive scientist and good friend: Panagiotis Ch. Karageorgos.

Certainly, many specialized scholars of Byzantine literature have recognized, appreciated, and studied the letter of the great patriarch Photius to the ruler of Bulgaria, Michael. But only the agronomist Karageorgos saw in this text an alternative proposition to the notorious Prince of Machiavelli.

Is the letter of Photius truly the Greek antidote to the relentlessly pragmatic prescriptions of Machiavelli for politics and power? Can the text of Photius serve as a framework for delineating the Greek perspective from the dominant Frankish conception of politics in the West?

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]