Transcaucasus

erdumn, ucht, carayut´iwn. Armenian aristocrats as diplomatic partners of Eastern Roman Emperors, 387-884/885 AD

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

published in: Armenian Review 52 (2010) p. 139–215.

This paper deals with the diplomatic relations between the Armenian aristocracy (as a whole and as individuals... more This paper deals with the diplomatic relations between the Armenian aristocracy (as a whole and as individuals respectively) and the most important neighboring Christian monarch, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor. The study concentrates on the period from the partition of Greater Armenia (387 AD) between Rome and Persia and the end of the Arsacid rule until the renewal of the Armenian monarchy under the Bagratids. During these centuries characterized by the absence of an Armenian King, foreign powers came to terms on the one hand with individual powerful noblemen, who were appointed to represent the entire Armenia, bearing the title of marzpan, sparapet, patrik and others, while on the other hand they negotiated directly with various aristocratic houses (as they did in former times). Based on contemporaneous Armenian, Greek, and other sources the paper aims to analyze the contents of the covenants between Armenian aristocrats and Byzantine Emperors (declaration of allegiance, bestowal of titles, military assistance, etc.), the diplomatic means and customs (oath, presents, charters – the “diplomatics of diplomacy”), the sources’ terminology and the interpretation of the relations between the Emperor and the Armenian aristocracy given by the sources. The description of these relations in the Armenian sources is consequently compared to the depiction of those of the Armenian aristocrats’ to the Sasanian Great King and the Arab Caliph. In that way, a “Byzantinocentric” interpretation of Armenia’s foreign relations during this period should be avoided, while at the same time efforts are made to detect specific elements of the Armeno-Byzantine political relations in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

Between New Jerusalem and the Beast in Human Form. The Picture of the Later Roman and Early Byzantine State in the Armenian Historiography of the 5th to 8th century

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

published in: Pro Georgia. Journal of Kartvelological Studies 19 (2009 = Proceedings of the VII. Annual Caucasus-Conference in memoriam Grigol Peradze, Warsaw, December 4th-8th, 2008), p. 51–95.

M. IŞIKLI and M.B. BAŞTÜRK, ‘A Statistical Evaluation of the Early Bronze Age Pottery from the Erzurum Region’

by Mahmut Bilge BAŞTÜRK

M. IŞIKLI and M.B. BAŞTÜRK, ‘A Statistical Evaluation of the Early Bronze Age Pottery from the Erzurum Region’, In: Çiğdem ÖZKAN AYGÜN (Ed). SOMA 2007: Proceedings of the XI Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Istanbul Technical University, 24 and 29 April 2007, BAR (British Archaeological Reports) International Series, Archaeopress, ISBN 9781407303826, Oxford, pp. 160–165.