Article

Name: Ode of the Acritical Freedom – Digenis Akritas: Armenian Roots of the Byzantine Epic Tradition

Authors: Ye. G. Margaryan

Russian-Armenian University, Institute of the History of National Academy of Since of Armenia, Yerevan

Abstract: The frontier of the Euphrates from ancient times was a zone of clashes between the great empires of antiquity. Today little has changed. After you lost your balance, you demanded less effort and knew, mainly, at the border. We called this strategy a small «small war». On the Byzantine-Arab and later Byzantine-Seljuk border, small wars were fought mainly from local stratiotes – akritai and apelatai, military operations unfolded in the territory of Lesser Armenia, Cappadocia and Pontus. The border zone on the other side of the border within the Caliphate was known as Sugur and was on the territory of Cilicia, Commagene and Northern Mesopotamia. A key role in these positional wars was played by Armenian strata and representatives of other indigenous peoples of this region. In this polyethnic, multicultural and multiconfessional environment, various religious systems emerged: Mithraism, independent forms of Eastern Christianity, the Pavlikian heresy and the epic legend «Digenis Akritas». The Akritic epic tradition was formed in the most Armenian and possibly Pavlikian environment. In Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic and Old Slavonic languages, various versions of the legend of the Digenis of Acryte are preserved. The article deals with the relationship of the Byzantine authorities, and how these relations were reflected in the acritical epic about Digenis- Devgeni.

Keywords: Euphrates frontier, strategy of «small war», akritai and apelatai, Byzantium, Caliphate, imperial authorities, Pavlikians, epic songs, Digenis Akritas

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