Das Historische Seminar, Arbeitsbereich Byzantinistik
und das Studium generale der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz laden ein zu folgendem Gastvortrag im Rahmen der Reihe "Byzantinische Archäologie in Mainz":
Dr. Stephen H. Rapp Jr. (Bern)
The Bagratid Revolution:
Dynastic Reorientation and the Byzantinization of Georgia
Vortrag in englischer Sprache
Mittwoch, 28. April 2010, 18.15 Uhr, Infobox, Nähe ReWi-Gebäude, an der Kreuzung J.-Welder-Weg/J.-v.-Müller-Weg
For a thousand years, down to the Russian conquest of the nineteenth century, the Bagratid dynasty monopolized the political life of Georgia. Mesmerized by the Bagratids’ self-image, modern historians have usually equated the medieval Georgian and Bagratid experiences and have portrayed medieval Georgia as a peripheral yet integral part of the Byzantine world. Yet when the Bagratids seized power in the early ninth century, eastern Georgian (Kartvelian, Iberian) society was strongly oriented towards Iran, a situation which can be traced back to Achaemenid times. Although subsequent Bagratid historians downplayed and even concealed Caucasia’s rich Iranian heritage, eastern Georgia had far more in common with Iran than the Roman/Byzantine Empires for centuries after the Christian conversion of King Mirian in the early fourth century. In this presentation we shall investigate the complex cultural orientations and affiliations of medieval Georgia and specially examine the Byzantinizing revolution spearheaded by the Bagratids and culminating in the pan-Caucasian Bagratid empire of the eleventh, twelfth, and early thirteenth centuries. We shall also ponder the extent to which Bagratid Georgia can be considered a "Byzantine" realm.
DR. STEPHEN H. RAPP JR. is adjunct assistant professor in the College of Liberal Studies of the University of Oklahoma (USA) and research associate of the Institute of History, University of Bern.