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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1115: Caucasian Connections, II: Global Armenian Culture and the Empires

Wednesday 3 July 2019, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Department of History, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
Organiser:John Latham-Sprinkle, Department of History, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Kathryn Franklin, Department of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of London
Paper 1115-a40 Martyrs of Sebasteia in Bishop Uxtanes' History of Armenians: Vernacular Religious Practice in the Age of Byzantine Expansion
(Language: English)
Kosuke Nakada, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Other
Paper 1115-bThe Depiction of the Armenian Warriors in Byzantine and Arabic Sources
(Language: English)
Konstantinos Takirtakoglou, Department of History & Archaeology, University of Ioannina, Greece
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Military History
Paper 1115-c13th-Century Armenian Historiography in Context: World History from an Armenian Perspective
(Language: English)
Heiko Conrad, Historisches Seminar - Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
Index terms: Hagiography, Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Other, Literacy and Orality
Abstract

The cultural productions of the Armenian people were by no means limited to the South Caucasus; on the contrary, their interaction with the surrounding empires led to the spread of their culture far beyond their homeland's borders. Takirtakoglu's paper will examine the important place of Armenians in the military forces of both their Byzantine and Islamic neighbours, and Tolidjian will demonstrate the importance of the Ottoman Empire in spreading Armenian architectural styles as far as Macedonia. Nakada will demonstrate how the Armenians' interactions with the Byzantine Empire helped inspire one of their most famous literary productions, the history of Uxtanes. Conrad will describe an exciting new project to contextualise Armenian historiography of the 13th century: a tumultuous period which saw the arrival of the Mongols in the political scene of the South Caucasus.