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
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