Byzantium is more and more recognized as a vibrant culture in dialogue with neighbouring regions, political entities, and peoples. Where better to look for this kind of dynamism than in the interactions between the Byzantines and the Armenians? Warfare and diplomacy are only one part of that story. The more enduring part consists of contact and mutual influence brokered by individuals who were conversant in both cultures and languages. The articles in this volume feature fresh work by younger and established scholars that illustrate the varieties of interaction in the fields of literature, material culture, and religion.
Contributors are: Gert Boersema, Emilio Bonfiglio, Bernard Coulie, Karen Hamada, Robin Meyer, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Claudia Rapp, Mark Roosien, Werner Seibt, Emmanuel Van Elverdinghe, Theo Maarten van Lint, Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt, and David Zakarian.
1 IntroductionâArmeno-Byzantine Studies in the 21st Century: Between Tradition and Turning Points
âEmilio Bonfiglio
Part 1 Mobility of Texts and Literary Exchanges
2 Armenian Translations from Greek Texts or the Inscription of the Armenian Particularism in the Byzantine Commonwealth
âBernard Coulie
3 The Armenian Version of the ΤέÏνη γÏαμμαÏική: An Uncomfortable Compromise in Language and Linguistics
âRobin Meyer
4 A Funeral Lament for Sparapet Vahram Pahlawuni: Myth Folklore, Epic and Remembrance in Grigor Pahlawuni Magistrosâ Work
âTheo Maarten van Lint
5 âThe hand that once wrote â¦â: The Journey of a Colophon Formula from Greek into Armenian
âEmmanuel van Elverdinghe
Part 2 Mobility of People and Objects, Interactions in Material Culture
6 Ê¿AlÄ« ibn YaḥyÄ al-ArmanÄ« and the âArmenian Connectionâ between Bosporus, Tigris, and Nile in the Mid 9th Century
âJohannes Preiser-Kapeller
7 King Vasilâs Holy Sign of War
âDavid Zakarian
Part 3 Liturgical Transfers and Religious Confrontations
8 Feasting the Lordâs Transfiguration in Armenian, Syriac, and Byzantine Traditions: The Travels of a Liturgical Feast from the Holy Land
âMark Roosien
9 Old Issues in the New Regime: The Revival of Religious Controversies Between Byzantines and Armenians after the Fall of the Bagratid Kingdom
âKaren Hamada
Part 3 Shifting Borders
10 Representations of Armenia(s) and the Armenians in Late Antiquity: Theory and Praxis in the Writings of John Chrysostom
âEmilio Bonfiglio
11 The Orthodox Monastery of the Virgin of Arayi: Evidence for Byzantine Ecclesiastical Policy in Greater Armenia (1045â1064)
âAlexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt and Gert Boersema
12 Where to Search for Byzantine Arkion?
âWerner Seibt
Index of Manuscripts General Index
Scholars of Byzantium, Armenia, and the Caucasus, of literature, religion, and material culture in the medieval Eastern Mediterranean and the Christian Orient.