Eastern Approaches to Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-third Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, March 1999

Description

First published 2001 by Ashgate Publishing. The eastern frontier of Byzantium and the interaction of the peoples that lived along it are the themes of this book. With a focus on the ninth to thirteenth centuries and dealing with both art history and history, the essays provide reconsiderations of Byzantine policy on its eastern borders, new interpretations and new materials on Byzantine relations with the Georgians, Armenians and Seljuqs, as well as studies on the writing of history among these peoples. Presenting research from Russia and Georgia as well as Europe and the USA, the contributors stress the interaction and interdependence of all the peoples along this frontier zone, and consider the different ways in which the political and cultural power of Byzantium was appropriated. They provide important comparative evidence for the relationship between local and Byzantine cultures, and open up new avenues for research into the history of eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus. The volume arises from the thirty-third Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies held at the University of Warwick in March 1999. Abbreviations vii List of Figures X Preface xiv Introduction / Antony Eastmond xvi 1. Speros Vryonis Jr. / 'The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century': The book in the light of subsequent scholarship, 1971-98 1 Section I. Byzantium's eastern frontier 2. Jonathan Shepard / Constantine VII, Caucasian openings and the road to Aleppo 19 3. Catherine Holmes / 'How the east was won' in the reign of Basil II 41 4. Jean-Claude Cheynet / La conception militaire de la frontière orientale (IXe-XIIIe siècle) 57 Section II. History writing in the east 5. Carole Hillenbrand / Some reflections on Seljuq historiography 73 6. Robert W. Thomson / The concept of 'history' in medieval Armenian historians 89 7. Stephen H. Rapp Jr. / From 'bumberazi' to 'basileus': writing cultural synthesis and dynastic change in medieval Georgia (K'art'li) 101 Section III. Byzantines 8. Liz James / Bearing gifts from the east: imperial relic hunters abroad 119 9. Catherine Jolivet-Lévy / Art chrétien en Anatolie turque: le témoignage de peintures inédites à Tatlarin 133 Section IV. Georgians 10. Zaza Skhirtladze / Newly discovered early paintings in the Gareja desert 149 11. Brigitta Schrade / Byzantium and its eastern barbarians: the cult of saints in Svanet'i 169 12. Giorgi Tcheishvili / Georgian perceptions of Byzantium in the eleventh and twelfth centuries 199 13. David Buckton / Stalin and Georgian enamels 211 Section V. Armenians 14. Lynn Jones / The visual expression of power and piety in medieval Armenia: the palace and palace church at Aghtamar 221 15. Helen C. Evans / Imperial aspirations: Armenian Cilicia and Byzantium in the thirteenth century 243 Section VI. Seljuqs and Turkomans 16. Rustam Shukurov / Turkoman and Byzantine self-identity. Some reflections on the logic of titlemaking in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Anatolia 259 17. Pamela Armstrong / Seljuqs before the Seljuqs: nomads and frontiers inside Byzantium 277 Index 287