From the early fourth century, the veneration of saints and relics spread rapidly across Christendom from the British Isles to Iran. In late antique Caucasia, the cult of the saints was immediately integrated into Armenian and Georgian identity and political discourses. It was used to legitimise royal rule, sanctify domains and dynasties, define political realms and justify political decisions. 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.

Explores the political aspects of sainthood, martyrdom and relics in late antique Caucasia

This collection of papers from the conference "The World of Late Antiquity: The Challenge of New Historiographies" 1999 looks at the implications of modern historiography on the transformation of the classical world. While it is easy to recognise that the works of past historians are partly products of the world of the author - Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for example, is a reflection of the troubled times of the late British Empire - it is somewhat harder to understand the influences of our time on more recent works on Late Antiquity. The contributors reflect on the larger tradition of historical writing on the Classical period, and look at the development of their own work in relation to this.