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The Resource The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes : Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian literature, Stephen H. Rapp Jr

The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes : Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian literature, Stephen H. Rapp Jr

Creator
Summary
"Georgian literary sources for Late Antiquity are commonly held to be later productions devoid of historical value. As a result, scholarship outside the Republic of Georgia has privileged Graeco-Roman and even Armenian narratives. However, when investigated within the dual contexts of a regional literary canon and the active participation of Caucasia's diverse peoples in the Iranian Commonwealth, early Georgian texts emerge as a rich repository of Late Antique attitudes and outlooks. Georgian hagiographical and historiographical compositions open a unique window onto a northern part of the Sasanian world that, while sharing striking affinities with the Iranian heartland, was home to vibrant, cosmopolitan cultures that developed along their own trajectories. In these sources, precise and accurate information about the core of the Sasanian Empire--and before it, Parthia and Achaemenid Persia--is sparse; yet the thorough structuring of wider Caucasian society along Iranian and especially hybrid Iranic lines is altogether evident. Scrutiny of these texts reveals, inter alia, that the Old Georgian language is saturated with words drawn from Parthian and Middle Persian, a trait shared with Classical Armenian; that Caucasian society, like its Iranian counterpart, was dominated by powerful aristocratic houses, many of whose origins can be traced to Iran itself; and that the conception of kingship in the eastern Georgian realm of K'art'li (Iberia), even centuries after the royal family's Christianisation in the 320s and 330s, was closely aligned with Arsacid and especially Sasanian models. There is also a literary dimension to the Irano-Caucasian nexus, aspects of which this volume exposes for the first time. The oldest surviving specimens of Georgian historiography exhibit intriguing parallels to the lost Sasanian Xwadāy-nāmag, The Book of Kings, one of the precursors to Ferdowsī's Shāhnāma. As tangible products of the dense cross-cultural web drawing the region together, early Georgian narratives sharpen our understanding of the diversity of the Iranian Commonwealth and demonstrate the persistence of Iranian and Iranic modes well into the medieval epoch"--Publisher's website
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource
Contents
  • Introduction: Contexts
  • Part I. Hagiographical texts
  • The vitae of Šušanik and Evstatʻi
  • The Nino cycle
  • Part II. Historiographical texts
  • Early historiography and its corpora
  • The Life of the kings
  • The Life of the successors of Mirian
  • The Life of Vaxtang Gorgasali
  • Ps.-Juanšer's continuation
  • Epilogue: Hambavi Mep'et'a and Sasanian Caucasia
  • Appendix I: Terminological note
  • Appendix II: Table of Georgian literary sources for the Sasanian era
  • Appendix III: Table of K'art'velian kings and presiding princes until the end of the Sasanian Empire
  • Appendix IV: Table of Mihrānid Bidax'es of Somxitʻi-Gugarkʻ
  • Appendix V: Table of Sasanian [Shāhanshāhs]
Isbn
9781472425522
Instance
Label
The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes : Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian literature
Title
The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes
Title remainder
Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian literature
Statement of responsibility
Stephen H. Rapp Jr
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Georgian literary sources for Late Antiquity are commonly held to be later productions devoid of historical value. As a result, scholarship outside the Republic of Georgia has privileged Graeco-Roman and even Armenian narratives. However, when investigated within the dual contexts of a regional literary canon and the active participation of Caucasia's diverse peoples in the Iranian Commonwealth, early Georgian texts emerge as a rich repository of Late Antique attitudes and outlooks. Georgian hagiographical and historiographical compositions open a unique window onto a northern part of the Sasanian world that, while sharing striking affinities with the Iranian heartland, was home to vibrant, cosmopolitan cultures that developed along their own trajectories. In these sources, precise and accurate information about the core of the Sasanian Empire--and before it, Parthia and Achaemenid Persia--is sparse; yet the thorough structuring of wider Caucasian society along Iranian and especially hybrid Iranic lines is altogether evident. Scrutiny of these texts reveals, inter alia, that the Old Georgian language is saturated with words drawn from Parthian and Middle Persian, a trait shared with Classical Armenian; that Caucasian society, like its Iranian counterpart, was dominated by powerful aristocratic houses, many of whose origins can be traced to Iran itself; and that the conception of kingship in the eastern Georgian realm of K'art'li (Iberia), even centuries after the royal family's Christianisation in the 320s and 330s, was closely aligned with Arsacid and especially Sasanian models. There is also a literary dimension to the Irano-Caucasian nexus, aspects of which this volume exposes for the first time. The oldest surviving specimens of Georgian historiography exhibit intriguing parallels to the lost Sasanian Xwadāy-nāmag, The Book of Kings, one of the precursors to Ferdowsī's Shāhnāma. As tangible products of the dense cross-cultural web drawing the region together, early Georgian narratives sharpen our understanding of the diversity of the Iranian Commonwealth and demonstrate the persistence of Iranian and Iranic modes well into the medieval epoch"--Publisher's website
Member of
Cataloging source
EBLCP
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Rapp, Stephen H
Dewey number
935/.707072039536
Illustrations
maps
Index
index present
Language note
English
LC call number
DS286
LC item number
.R29 2014eb
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Sassanids
  • Sassanids
  • Iran
  • Georgia (Republic)
  • Georgia (Republic)
  • Caucasus
  • Georgian literature
  • Hagiography
  • Georgian language
  • HISTORY
  • Georgian language
  • Georgian literature
  • Hagiography
  • Historiography
  • Kings and rulers
  • Sassanids
  • Caucasus
  • Georgia (Republic)
  • Iran
Label
The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes : Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian literature, Stephen H. Rapp Jr
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction: Contexts -- Part I. Hagiographical texts -- The vitae of Šušanik and Evstatʻi -- The Nino cycle -- Part II. Historiographical texts -- Early historiography and its corpora -- The Life of the kings -- The Life of the successors of Mirian -- The Life of Vaxtang Gorgasali -- Ps.-Juanšer's continuation -- Epilogue: Hambavi Mep'et'a and Sasanian Caucasia -- Appendix I: Terminological note -- Appendix II: Table of Georgian literary sources for the Sasanian era -- Appendix III: Table of K'art'velian kings and presiding princes until the end of the Sasanian Empire -- Appendix IV: Table of Mihrānid Bidax'es of Somxitʻi-Gugarkʻ -- Appendix V: Table of Sasanian [Shāhanshāhs]
Control code
892245872
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9781472425522
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Other physical details
maps
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)892245872
Label
The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes : Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian literature, Stephen H. Rapp Jr
Publication
Copyright
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction: Contexts -- Part I. Hagiographical texts -- The vitae of Šušanik and Evstatʻi -- The Nino cycle -- Part II. Historiographical texts -- Early historiography and its corpora -- The Life of the kings -- The Life of the successors of Mirian -- The Life of Vaxtang Gorgasali -- Ps.-Juanšer's continuation -- Epilogue: Hambavi Mep'et'a and Sasanian Caucasia -- Appendix I: Terminological note -- Appendix II: Table of Georgian literary sources for the Sasanian era -- Appendix III: Table of K'art'velian kings and presiding princes until the end of the Sasanian Empire -- Appendix IV: Table of Mihrānid Bidax'es of Somxitʻi-Gugarkʻ -- Appendix V: Table of Sasanian [Shāhanshāhs]
Control code
892245872
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9781472425522
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Other physical details
maps
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)892245872

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