The Sword with the Sleeve Cross-Guard in the Fresco from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Aghtamar Island

• Authors: Raffaele D’Amato , Dmytro Dymydyuk

Abstracts

EN

There is an indisputable fact that in Medieval Armenia, as in most countries of the Middle Ages, the sword was a popular (but expensive) type of weapon. However, what did these “swords” look like? The aim of the article is to analyse one internal fresco called “Massacre of the Innocents” from Aghtamar Church (915–921), where a depiction of the sword with the sleeve cross-guard could be found.Comparisons of the known archaeological finds of “Byzantine” type swords from Eastern Europe and Near East have been made, proving the idea that such type of swords actually existed. The authors, with the following analysis, would like to support the idea that medieval figurative sources are a very accurate for studying medieval military history.

Keywords

EN

Bagratid Armenia; Vaspurakan kingdom; Aghtamar; Msho Arakelots; Iran; Byzantine/Roman Empire; Muslim world; weapon; sword; sleeve cross-guard; Garabonc

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Studia Ceranea
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 11
• Pages: 107-144

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Raffaele D’Amato

• University of Ferrara, Cultore della materia in Roman and Greek studies near the Laboratory of the Danubian Provinces

• https://orcid.org/000000015528546X

author

Dmytro Dymydyuk

• Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Faculty of History, Department of History of Middle Ages and Byzantine Studies

• https://orcid.org/0000000150675530

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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/2084-140X.11.06

Biblioteka Nauki

2027793