The Cultures of Armenia and Georgia

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Rare Book Dept., The Free Library of Philadelphia

Organizer Name

Bert Beynen

Organizer Affiliation

Temple Univ.

Presider Name

Sergio La Porta

Presider Affiliation

California State Univ.-Fresno

Paper Title 1

Shine, Slaughter, Salvation: Material Spirituality and the Martyr's Body at Avarayr

Presenter 1 Name

Erin Piñon

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Princeton Univ.

Paper Title 2

Nerses Shnorhali's Riddles: Vernacular Reading in Medieval Cilicia

Presenter 2 Name

Michael Pifer

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Paper Title 3

Between Mongols and Mamluks: The Frankish-Armenian "Moment" in the Eastern Mediterranean

Presenter 3 Name

Jesse W. Izzo

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Quinnipiac Univ.

Paper Title 4

From Sea To Sea? The Political Geography of Tamar's Georgia

Presenter 4 Name

James Baillie

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Univ. Wien

Start Date

11-5-2018 3:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1340

Description

Pifer’s paper examines the large body of riddles that the 12th century Catholicos Nerses Shnorhali composed in Middle Armenian. The riddles were meant to stimulate audiences at secular gatherings at e.g. taverns to arrive at a correct reading of ambiguously phrased riddles and find their hard to detect meanings. Izzo traces in his paper the contours of a Frankish-Armenian “diplomatic moment” in the late thirteenth century when the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and the Latin Kingdoms of Cyprus and Jerusalem coordinated their policies in their struggle against the Ilkhanid Mongols of Iran and the Mamluks of Egypt. Baillie offers some thoughts on local and regional geographies of power in Georgia during the reign of Tamar (1184-1215). He w) and discusses the use of new digital toolkits for producing and manipulating useful maps and information, as well as offering some thoughts on the historical problems of discussing the political geography of this period and whether new methodologies may allow a fresh examination of some of the possible solutions. Piñon discusses texts of the historians Łazar Parpetsi and Ełišē who chronicle a dramatic and transformational period of early Armenian history—the 450/1 CE revolt against Sasanian rule and the Battle of Avarayr. The current paper studies how the battle was imagined, sometimes nearly a millennia after the event, especially in connection with the hagiographical and historiographical traditions of Armenia.

Bert Beynen

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May 11th, 3:30 PM

The Cultures of Armenia and Georgia

Schneider 1340

Pifer’s paper examines the large body of riddles that the 12th century Catholicos Nerses Shnorhali composed in Middle Armenian. The riddles were meant to stimulate audiences at secular gatherings at e.g. taverns to arrive at a correct reading of ambiguously phrased riddles and find their hard to detect meanings. Izzo traces in his paper the contours of a Frankish-Armenian “diplomatic moment” in the late thirteenth century when the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and the Latin Kingdoms of Cyprus and Jerusalem coordinated their policies in their struggle against the Ilkhanid Mongols of Iran and the Mamluks of Egypt. Baillie offers some thoughts on local and regional geographies of power in Georgia during the reign of Tamar (1184-1215). He w) and discusses the use of new digital toolkits for producing and manipulating useful maps and information, as well as offering some thoughts on the historical problems of discussing the political geography of this period and whether new methodologies may allow a fresh examination of some of the possible solutions. Piñon discusses texts of the historians Łazar Parpetsi and Ełišē who chronicle a dramatic and transformational period of early Armenian history—the 450/1 CE revolt against Sasanian rule and the Battle of Avarayr. The current paper studies how the battle was imagined, sometimes nearly a millennia after the event, especially in connection with the hagiographical and historiographical traditions of Armenia.

Bert Beynen