Sacralizing Armenian Landscape: Nature, Culture and War in the Writings of Step’annos Orbelian
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the way the transformation of natural sites into cultural spaces was perceived in medieval Armenia based on the analysis of the History of the State of Sisakan by the bishop and historian Step’annos Orbelian (ca. 1250–1304). Orbelian’s text begins with the classic topos of a conversion of a natural environment going “from desert to paradise” and describes how the monastic colonization transformed the natural, wild landscape into a prosperous place of culture and fertility. It is, however, clear from Orbelian’s words that this transformation also had an explicit impact on the concrete lives of the surrounding settlements: thanks to the monastic presence, these were protected from floods and bad weather. Thus, a religious and cultural foundation had a decisive impact a geosocial reality. After presenting Orbelian’s History, the present paper will attempt to reconstruct its cultural context. Secondly, an effort will be made to analyze preserved sites where the dialogue between nature and culture described by Orbelian can still be observed. Finally, we will propose an overview reading focused on the central theme of the conference: how specifically the natural and “wild” environment was shaped by human activities in the thirteenth-century Armenian context. |
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