(Ebook) Sanctity, Gender and Authority in Medieval Caucasia by Nikoloz Aleksidze ISBN 9781474498616, 9781474498647, 1474498612, 1474498647

(Ebook) Sanctity, Gender and Authority in Medieval Caucasia by Nikoloz Aleksidze ISBN 9781474498616, 9781474498647, 1474498612, 1474498647

This book is the first systematic study of this history. Discussing a wide variety of sources from Armenia, Georgia, Byzantium and Russia which have not been examined together before, it investigates the interaction of sanctity, holy relics, gender and politics in the medieval Caucasus, with a particular focus on Georgia. Nikoloz Aleksidze analyses three chronological eras: the first section focuses on late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, when the cult of the relics was formed in Caucasian writing; the second explores the medieval era, when the Bagratids ruled in Georgia and the cults of figures such as St George, the Mother of God and Queen Tamar were shaped and politicised; and the third navigates a similar entanglement of sanctity, gender and political rhetoric in Russian Imperial and Georgian national discourse.