Online Lecture: Contested Space: Land, Law and Society in Early Medieval Armenia
The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University are pleased to announce the final lecture in the 2025–2026 East of Byzantium lecture series.
Contested Space: Land, Law and Society in Early Medieval Armenia
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 | 12:00 PM (EDT, UTC -4) | Zoom
Tim Greenwood, University of St Andrews
There are two visions of late Antique and medieval Armenia which sit uneasily together: as a site of longstanding political, cultural and confessional contention, often accompanied by violence and as a site of remarkable societal resilience in the face of repeated initiatives by hegemonic authorities – Arsacid, Sasanian, Roman, and Islamic – to assert control. Many of the leading houses prominent in the fourth century were also prominent in the seventh century and some retained their prominence, seemingly unbroken, into the eleventh century and beyond. Although scholars have analysed the complex historical narratives preserved in the rich Armenian literary tradition, the juridical landscape in which these narratives played out remains largely uncharted.
Through a series of case studies, this paper explores that landscape and analyses the ownership and transmission of land across late Antique and early medieval Armenia. It proposes that the Armenian elite utilised legal mechanisms deriving from Iranian jurisprudence to define and preserve inalienable family properties. It focuses on charitable foundations set up for the soul.
Tim Greenwood is Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the School of History at the University of St Andrews, Correspondant étranger of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Institut de France, and Fellow of the British Academy. He specialises in the study of late Antique and medieval Armenia, including interactions with, and reflections of, Sasanian Iran, Byzantium and the wider Persianate and Islamicate worlds.
Advance registration required. Register: https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/
Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.
An East of Byzantium lecture. EAST OF BYZANTIUM is a partnership between the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the Mary Jaharis Center that explores the cultures of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine empire in the late antique and medieval periods.
