The focus of my research is medieval Armenian history, culture and religion in the context of various other peoples and culture that they came into contact with between the fifth and fourteenth centuries. I pay particular attention to little studied, so-called 'minor' texts, such as apocalypses, hagiographies, manuscript colophons and folk legends. These are often privileged windows to a world of a multi-cultural and -religious encounters in the space of southern Caucasus, eastern Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia and eastern Mediterranean, as my publications have emphasised.
less
InterestsView All (34)
Uploads
L’étymologie de Vaspurakan est heureusement assez transparente pour laisser entrevoir par quelle évolution un banal adjectif en -akan, a pu acquérir un sens toponymique localisé dans cette région. Il est clair en effet que le radical est composé de l’épithète vas- signifiant « précieux, de haute noblesse », et de – pur-, reposant sur un thème indo-iranien, qui désigne le « fils », comme c’est le cas par exemple dans le nom du fleuve Brahmapoutre. Le Vaspurakan est donc la terre qui appartient en propre aux « fils de haute noblesse ».
Qui sont ces mystérieux personnages ? Tout simplement, les frères cadets ou les cousins du roi. Bref, tous les princes du sang, qu’il vaut mieux tenir à l’écart de la cour pour éviter les intrigues de palais, et autres rivalités fratricides. Movsēs Xorenac‘i nous apprend qu’à l’époque arsacide ces princes étaient consignés au Nord du lac de Van, près des pêcheries royales d’Aṙberani, et qu’ils ne pouvaient quitter ce secteur sans se rendre coupables de haute trahison. C’est ainsi que leur domaine princier fut qualifié de vaspurakan et que, par une sorte de métonymie, cet adjectif fut transformé en nom propre pour désigner des territoires de plus en plus étendus : au VIe siècle, l’Est du Turuberan puis, dès le VIIe siècle, presque tout le Sud-Est arménien, si l’on en croit la Géographie d’Anania Širakac‘i.
ISBN: 9789004400382
Publisher: Brill
Senek‘erim of Syunik‘ (1072-1094/6), his relationship to the sultan Malikshâh (1073-1092), and his endowments to the monastery of Tat‘ew that are compared to the Muslim tradition of waqf. In the second part, I look at bishop Hovhannês Kapants‘i’s efforts to establish a tax exempt status on and expand the lands belonging to the monastery of Noravank‘ with the support of the Seljuk court. This is done through the analysis of a historiola reported by the 13th-century historian Step‘anos Ôrbêlean. It details Hovhannês Kapants‘i’s voyage to Isfahan, his miraculous healing of the sultan’s son, and his use of the written record in establishing rights to land-control and its use. Hovhannês’ actions eventually led to the transformation of a local holy site to the major religious center of Noravank‘. Lastly, the article highlights the importance of élite women (Armenian or Seljuk) in situations of contested authority and legitimacy of titles, as well as their role as economic agents.
Armenia — the basilica of Tekor — and in introducing and promoting the cult of St. Sergius, as attested by the famous inscription of Tekor. This is compared to the foundation of yet another outstanding architectural jewel — the basilica of Ereruyk' — and the significance of these near contemporary structures for the Christianisation of the landscape of Širak, the function of specific saints’ cults, and the role of Kamsarakan princes in promoting them. The article also highlights the hemispheric scope of action of the Kamsarakans fighting on behalf of the Roman and Sasanian Empires, from Italy to Afghanistan, and reminds the readers of
their importance as agents of cultural exchanges between their native Armenia and the region of Širak, to the wider world. Finally, it underscores the value of Anania Širakac'i’s Problems in preserving echoes of a distinct Kamsarakan dynastic memory in the absence of historiographical
sources focusing on this specific aristocratic family.
L’étymologie de Vaspurakan est heureusement assez transparente pour laisser entrevoir par quelle évolution un banal adjectif en -akan, a pu acquérir un sens toponymique localisé dans cette région. Il est clair en effet que le radical est composé de l’épithète vas- signifiant « précieux, de haute noblesse », et de – pur-, reposant sur un thème indo-iranien, qui désigne le « fils », comme c’est le cas par exemple dans le nom du fleuve Brahmapoutre. Le Vaspurakan est donc la terre qui appartient en propre aux « fils de haute noblesse ».
Qui sont ces mystérieux personnages ? Tout simplement, les frères cadets ou les cousins du roi. Bref, tous les princes du sang, qu’il vaut mieux tenir à l’écart de la cour pour éviter les intrigues de palais, et autres rivalités fratricides. Movsēs Xorenac‘i nous apprend qu’à l’époque arsacide ces princes étaient consignés au Nord du lac de Van, près des pêcheries royales d’Aṙberani, et qu’ils ne pouvaient quitter ce secteur sans se rendre coupables de haute trahison. C’est ainsi que leur domaine princier fut qualifié de vaspurakan et que, par une sorte de métonymie, cet adjectif fut transformé en nom propre pour désigner des territoires de plus en plus étendus : au VIe siècle, l’Est du Turuberan puis, dès le VIIe siècle, presque tout le Sud-Est arménien, si l’on en croit la Géographie d’Anania Širakac‘i.
ISBN: 9789004400382
Publisher: Brill
Senek‘erim of Syunik‘ (1072-1094/6), his relationship to the sultan Malikshâh (1073-1092), and his endowments to the monastery of Tat‘ew that are compared to the Muslim tradition of waqf. In the second part, I look at bishop Hovhannês Kapants‘i’s efforts to establish a tax exempt status on and expand the lands belonging to the monastery of Noravank‘ with the support of the Seljuk court. This is done through the analysis of a historiola reported by the 13th-century historian Step‘anos Ôrbêlean. It details Hovhannês Kapants‘i’s voyage to Isfahan, his miraculous healing of the sultan’s son, and his use of the written record in establishing rights to land-control and its use. Hovhannês’ actions eventually led to the transformation of a local holy site to the major religious center of Noravank‘. Lastly, the article highlights the importance of élite women (Armenian or Seljuk) in situations of contested authority and legitimacy of titles, as well as their role as economic agents.
Armenia — the basilica of Tekor — and in introducing and promoting the cult of St. Sergius, as attested by the famous inscription of Tekor. This is compared to the foundation of yet another outstanding architectural jewel — the basilica of Ereruyk' — and the significance of these near contemporary structures for the Christianisation of the landscape of Širak, the function of specific saints’ cults, and the role of Kamsarakan princes in promoting them. The article also highlights the hemispheric scope of action of the Kamsarakans fighting on behalf of the Roman and Sasanian Empires, from Italy to Afghanistan, and reminds the readers of
their importance as agents of cultural exchanges between their native Armenia and the region of Širak, to the wider world. Finally, it underscores the value of Anania Širakac'i’s Problems in preserving echoes of a distinct Kamsarakan dynastic memory in the absence of historiographical
sources focusing on this specific aristocratic family.
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new online journal Armeniaca. International Journal of Armenian Studies to be published by Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. This initiative responds to the ever-growing diffusion of electronic journals in academia and the need to provide such a scholarly instrument also for Armenian studies: an open access outlet that follows a double-blind peer review procedure. Based on this shared goal representatives of four Italian universities where Armenian studies are currently present in the curriculum (Bologna, Florence, Pisa and Venice), came together to carry out this project. The journal embraces an international perspective as reflected in the composition of its scientific board whose members are Armenologists from diverse research institutions and universities in Europe and beyond. It is open to the main fields of research in Armenian studies (archaeology, art, philology, literature, linguistics, history) and accepts articles in English, Italian, French, and German.
The course will introduce doctoral and advanced research-oriented MA students to the ways in which Jews and Christians interacted in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia, and the Indian Ocean in the period between 600-1800 CE. This is the topic of a research project aiming at establishing a new area of study – relations between Jews and Eastern Christian communities from the rise of Islam to the end of the eighteenth century.
Ocean) is a series of five lectures dedicated to various aspects of contact
between diverse religions in the specified geographical space.
The papers will discuss such various subjects as the encounter of Jews and Christians in Southern Caucasus, including myths about Jews in Armenian and Georgian sources, Syriac hagiography and its representation of Jews, the religious diversity and its expression in medieval Afghanistan, artistic exchanges under Seljuq rule in medieval Anatolia and the problems of valorising and protecting the multi-religious cultural heritage (Armenian,
Greek and Islamic) in today's Republic of Turkey.
religions by focusing on so-called “traveling texts” or “traveling motifs”, especially those that transcend boundaries of religion/language. We look at such issues as the appearance of certain texts and motifs in different languages and religious traditions, the process of this transmission, the kind of texts that seem to be more likely to transcend such (imagined or real) boundaries, and the kind of changes that occur in the process. Individual papers will focus on specific cases and texts, some noteworthy motifs that received a wide diffusion, or explore theoretical perspectives behind this tradition-transfer. The workshop will raise such questions as: why texts travel, in what context, what kind of texts travel and if we can detect any general patterns with respect to the content/genre of traveling texts and the religious traditions through or across which they travel.