Session1214
TitleThe Caucasus: A Region of Borders?, I - The Caucasus as Political Borderland
Date/TimeWednesday 6 July 2022: 14.15-15.45
 
SponsorMedieval Caucasus Network & Vakgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent
 
OrganiserJohn Latham-Sprinkle, Vakgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent
 
Moderator/ChairTara L. Andrews, Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien
 
Paper 1214-a Was the North Caucasus Part of the Byzantine Empire?: Boundaries, Suzerainty, and Segmentary Polities in Medieval West Eurasia
(Language: English)
John Latham-Sprinkle, Vakgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent
Index Terms: Byzantine Studies; Geography and Settlement Studies; Political Thought; Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1214-b Marking the Lion's Scent: Georgian Borders between Idea and Reality
(Language: English)
James Baillie, Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien / Institut für Iranistik, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Index Terms: Byzantine Studies; Geography and Settlement Studies; Political Thought; Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1214-c North-Eastern South Caucasian Unknown Medieval Sites for the Reinforcement of Borders with the North Caucasus
(Language: English)
Marina Puturidze, Department of Archaeology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Index Terms: Architecture - Religious; Architecture - Secular; Geography and Settlement Studies; Politics and Diplomacy
 
AbstractThe Caucasus, standing between Anatolia, the Iranian Plateau and the steppes of Eurasia, has long been considered a quintessential borderland between the empires of medieval West Eurasia. However, less study has been devoted to the implications of this status for the peoples of the Caucasus, and how it was perceived during the medieval period. This session will concentrate on how borders in the Caucasus were conceptualised, both by the elites of foreign imperial powers (Byzantium) and by those of Caucasian polities (Georgia and Alania). It will introduce evidence for perceptions of borders from a wide variety of sources, including archaeology, narrative sources, geographical compendia, and liturgy.