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Byzantophilia in the letters of Grigor Magistros?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2017

AnnaLinden Weller
AnnaLinden Weller*
Affiliation:
Uppsala [email protected]
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Abstract

The letters of Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni demonstrate the multivalent methods by which Grigor negotiated being an Armenian aristocrat in service to the foreign power of Byzantium. While they display a Hellenic aesthetic and make use of the norms of Byzantine letter-writing culture, they nonetheless show that Grigor Magistros maintained a strong Armenian cultural identity even when holding a Byzantine title.

Keywords

ArmeniaGrigor Magistroscultural imperialismepistolographyGreek-Armenian translation
Type
Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , October 2017 , pp. 167 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 2017 

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References

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47 That is to say, the Artsruni princes who exchanged their domains for lands and offices in Cappadocia and moved to Sebasteia with 14000 men and their families.

48 Lastivertc'i 10.

49 Greenwood, ‘Armenian neighbours’, 362.

50 Sanjian, ‘Grigor Magistros: an Armenian Hellenist’, 132-3. This narrative is assembled from Ioannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. I. Thurn (Berlin 1976) 366-7; Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Antaki, Histoire, ed. A. Vasiliev (Patrologia Orientalis 47) 459-69; Aristakes Lastivertc'i 11-25; Matthew of Edessa, 44-9; and Kʻartʻlis Cʻxovreba: The Georgian Royal Annals and Their Medieval Armenian Adaptation, ed. S. Rapp (Delmar, NY 1998) 281-4.

51 Magistros, T'ght'ere, pp. 52-3, 67-9.

52 Magistros, T'ght'ere, pp. 62-3.

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55 Terian, Magnalia Dei, 7.

56 Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, trans. J.-M. Chabot, 3 vols (Paris 1901) III, 133.

57 Skylitzes, Synopsis 366-7; Lastivertc'i, Recit des malheurs 11-25; Matthew of Edessa, Armenia and the Crusades, 44-9.

58 Magistros, T'ght'ere, 65.

59 Grigor Magistros, ‘Answer to the Syrian Catholicos’, Book of Letters, 153-4.

60 Ibid., 154.

61 Grigor of Narek, ‘Epistle of the Most Blessed Vardapet Grigor of Narek to the Magnificent and Great Order of Kjav, concerning the beliefs of the cursed T'ondrakians’, Book of Letters, xcii, 498-502; Lastivertc'i, Recit des malheurs, 86-91.

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67 Grigor Magistros, ‘Letter to the Syrian Catholicos’ (K68), T'ght'ere, 167-8.

68 Sanjian, ‘Grigor Magistros: An Armenian Hellenist’, 137.