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

by Eastmond,Antony

• ISBN13: 9780754603221
• ISBN10: 0754603229
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	vii
List of Figures	x
Preface	xiv
Introduction	xvi
Antony Eastmond
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	(18)
Speros Vryonis Jr
Section I Byzantium's eastern frontier
Constantine VII, Caucasian openings and the road to Aleppo	19	(22)
Jonathan Shepard
`How the east was won' in the reign of Basil II	41	(16)
Catherine Holmes
La conception militaire de la frontiere orientale (IXe--XIIIe siecle)	57	(16)
Jean-Claude Cheynet
Section II History writing in the east
Some reflections on Seljuq historiography	73	(16)
Carole Hillenbrand
The concept of `history' in medieval Armenian historians	89	(12)
Robert W. Thomson
From bumberazi to basileus: writing cultural synthesis and dynastic change in medieval Georgia (K`art'li)	101	(18)
Stephen H. Rapp Jr
Section III Byzantines
Bearing gifts from the east: imperial relic hunters abroad	119	(14)
Liz James
Art chretien en Anatolie turque: le temoignage de peintures inedites a Tatlarin	133	(16)
Catherine Jolivet-Levy
Section IV Georgians
Newly discovered early paintings in the Gareja desert	149	(20)
Zaza Skhirtladze
Byzantium and its eastern barbarians: the cult of saints in Svaneti	169	(30)
Brigitta Schrade
Georgian perceptions of Byzantium in the eleventh and twelfth centuries	199	(12)
Giorgi Tcheishvili
Stalin and Georgian enamels	211	(10)
David Buckton
Section V Armenians
The visual expression of power and piety in medieval Armenia: the palace and palace church at Aghtamar	221	(22)
Lynn Jones
Imperial aspirations: Armenian Cilicia and Byzantium in the thirteenth century	243	(16)
Helen C. Evans
Section VI Seljuqs and Turkomans
Turkoman and Byzantine self-identity. Some reflections on the logic of titlemaking in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Anatolia	259	(18)
Rustam Shukurov
Seljuqs before the Seljuqs: nomads and frontiers inside Byzantium	277	(10)
Pamela Armstrong
Index	287