T‘ovma Arcruni and his world: Armenian historical traditions in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries

Thesis

This thesis will provide a reassessment of T‘ovma Arcruni’s History of the House of the Arcrunik‘. It will situate the text in its social and historical context, but also serve as a platform to discuss the varied traditions of historical writing in Arcruni Vaspurakan. The work of T‘ovma and the Anonymous Continuator provides a unique insight into a period of radical transformation for the Near East in the ninth and tenth centuries. This was an era that witnessed the fragmentation of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate, the emergence of independent Armenian kingdoms, and the renewal of Byzantine expansion along the eastern frontier.

Whilst scholars have tended to neglect the early books of the work, the first chapter of this study will focus on T‘ovma’s account of the distant past. It will argue that the author’s creative re-use of Armenian historical sources has not been fully appreciated and that the work is far more sophisticated than commonly thought. The second chapter will focus on the depiction of Armenian social relations in the History. Through his account of a period of acute crisis, T‘ovma provides a snapshot of politics at a local level and reveals the agency of the lesser nobility. When read in dialogue with other contemporary sources, the History also bears witness to more fundamental changes within the ‘Naxarar system’.

The final chapters will discuss the impact of two neighbouring imperial cultures on the Armenian historical tradition. The History describes the Armenian nobility’s complex relationship with the ʿAbbāsid elite, but also includes instances of oral transmission and intercultural dialogue. Similarly, the Byzantine Empire posed a continuing threat, but also presented a powerful model of Christian rulership. This thesis will discuss how T‘ovma and the Anonymous Continuator engaged with these traditions and repurposed them within a distinctly Armenian context.

Authors: Gallaher, DJ

• Alternative title: T‘ovma Arcruni and his world
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-8gxxjrkre
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Christianity; Van; Rome; Bagratuni; Armenia; Caucasus; Vaspurakan; Constantinople; Artsruni; Islam; Byzantine Empire; Greece; history; historiography; Byzantium; Armenian; Abbasid Caliphate; Arcruni; literature; Near East; Anatolia; Iran
• Subjects: Literature, Medieval; Rome; Historiography; Abbasid; Late Antiquity; Caucasus; Van, Lake (Turkey); Constantinople; Writing, Armenian; Caucasus, South; Iran; Turkey, Eastern; Europe; Armenia; Byzantine Empire; Byzantium; Middle East; Greece; Christianity; Islam; History