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Doctoral Dissertation Byzantium and the Georgian World C. 900–1210

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Doctoral Dissertation Byzantium and the Georgian World C. 900–1210 Doctoral Dissertation Byzantium and the Georgian World c. 900–1210: Ideology of Kingship and Rhetoric in the Byzantine Periphery Sandro Nikolaishvili Supervisor(s): Daniel Ziemann Submitted to the Medieval Studies Department, Central European University, Budapest in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Studies Budapest, Hungary 2019 CEU eTD Collection Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Aims of the Thesis .................................................................................................................................... 2 Methodology and Structure ....................................................................................................................... 5 Sources .................................................................................................................................................... 10 Hagiography ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Historiographical Texts ....................................................................................................................... 11 Panegyric Poems ................................................................................................................................. 12 Byzantine and Armenian sources ........................................................................................................ 13 Chapter One. Cross-Cultural Interaction between Byzantium and the Georgian World ................. 15 1.1 “A Vessel of Christ”: Constantinople in the Medieval Georgian Imagination ................................. 16 1.2 The Emergence of Georgian Monastic Centers and Communities in the Byzantine Empire ........... 20 The Georgian Monastic Center on Mount Athos: the Iviron .............................................................. 21 Georgian Monastic Centers on Black Mountain ................................................................................. 31 1.3 “Radiant Among the Rulers” and a “Holy King:” The Image and Authority of the Byzantine basileus in the Georgian World ............................................................................................................................ 32 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter Two. Shaping a Royal Image in the Shadow of Byzantium: The Rise of Bagratid Power under Byzantine Tutelage ........................................................................................................................ 49 2.1 From Provincial Aristocrats to kouropalatēs: Creating the Image of the Byzantine Emperor’s Subordinate Ruler ................................................................................................................................... 49 2.2 A Challenge to Byzantine Domination? The Emergence of an All Georgian Kingdom and a Rift in the Byzantine-Bagratid Relationship ...................................................................................................... 57 The First Rupture between the Byzantine Imperial Court and the Bagratids of Tao-Klarjeti ............ 60 The Consequences of Phokas’ Revolt for the Georgian World .......................................................... 65 “King and Kouropalatēs of the Entire East:” the Royal Image of Bagrat III ..................................... 67 2.3 From Nōbelissimos to Kaisar: Byzantine Court Titles in the Visual and Verbal Rhetoric of King CEU eTD Collection Bagrat IV and King Giorgi II .................................................................................................................. 70 2.4 The Rise of the Seljuk Turks and Shift in Byzantine-Georgian Relations ........................................ 81 2. 5 Between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuks: the Royal Image of Giorgi II ............................... 86 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 91 i Chapter Three. Casting a Shadow over the Byzantine basileus’ Authority: Constructing an Emperor- like Image of King Davit IV (r.1089–1125) ............................................................................................. 93 3.1 From High-Ranking Byzantine Dignitary to Independent Sovereign: Davit’s Royal Image in Transition ................................................................................................................................................ 94 3.2 The Byzantine Origins of Georgian Royal Rhetoric ....................................................................... 103 A New Alexander: The Image of a Soldier-King and an Exceptional Army Commander ............... 107 3.3 Davit’s virtues of Piety, Philanthropy, and Justice ......................................................................... 116 3.4 The Wisdom of Davit: An Image of a Learned King...................................................................... 123 3.5 Guardian of Orthodoxy and the New Constantine: The ecclesiastical policies of Davit IV and Alexios I Komnenos ........................................................................................................................................... 136 The King as a Polemist and Rhetorician ........................................................................................... 151 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 159 Chapter Four. From Byzantine to Cosmopolitan Kingship: Bagratid Royal Authority in Transition .................................................................................................................................................................. 163 4.1 The Image of the Christian King of Kings ...................................................................................... 164 4.2 Creating the Authority of a Female Ruler in Georgia: A Comparative Approach to the Representation of Queen Tamar (r.1184 –1213) and Byzantine Imperial Women ....................................................... 171 A crisis of succession and a female ruler on “Solomon’s Throne” ................................................... 172 4. 3 The Language of Female Authority: Multidimensional Propaganda of Legitimation ................... 178 The Authorship and the Audience of the Encomiastic Narratives .................................................... 181 Four Rhetorical Prooimia: Introducing Tamar to the Audience ....................................................... 185 Prooimion of the Life of Tamar ........................................................................................................ 189 The Prooimia of the Abdulmesiani and In Praise of King Tamar .................................................... 190 4.4 Juxtaposing the Literary Portrayal of Tamar and Davit Soslan ...................................................... 191 4.5 The sun-like and Christ-like Tamar: Cultivating the sacrality of a Female Ruler .......................... 201 4.6 A New Constantine: Tamar’s virtues of Piety, Philanthropy, and Justice ...................................... 206 4.7 “Famous among the Monarchs:” Tamar Exercise of Royal Power ................................................ 213 Relation with the Army and Celebration of Military Victories ........................................................ 218 4.8 She-Philosopher: The Image of an Erudite Queen .......................................................................... 230 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 237 CEU eTD Collection Epilogue .................................................................................................................................................... 241 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 246 ii Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors Daniel Ziemann and Niels Gaul, for their support and guidance. I am also grateful to my external reader, Stephen H. Rapp, jr. for his feedback and comments. Many thanks to the Central European University for granting me with the Doctoral Research Support Grant, as well as various other travel grants that enabled me to attend conferences and the summer school in Dumbarton Oaks (2013). I also wish to acknowledge the support of the Department of Medieval Studies at CEU. I further offer my thanks to Floris Bernard for his helpful suggestions. My appreciation goes to Ingela Nilsson for hosting me at the University of Uppsala (Department of Linguistics and Philology) and for her feedback and comments on the parts of my dissertation. I am also in debt to Stig Frøyshov and the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo for inviting me to spend a challenging and stimulating semester there. My special gratitude goes to New Europe College (NEC) in Bucharest for granting me a five-month fellowship. I would also like to thank my collages, Andras Kraft, Ivan Maric, Peter Bara, Lucas McMahon, Radu Mustata,
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