Nikoloz Aleksidze

The book project, with a working title Holy Bodies and Body Politic: Sanctity, Gender and Polity in Medieval and Modern Caucasia explores the political dimension of the cult of saints in medieval Caucasia, and, in particular, the role of the feminine in the construction of political cults. For this purpose, the book explores three chronological eras. The first two chapters study the origin and development of the cult of saints in Armenia, Georgia and Caucasian Albania. They explore several ‘foundational’ saintly narratives that were rewritten multiple times and readapted in different rhetorical circumstances. Next, the formation of the cult of Queen Tamar, St George and the Virgin Mary is studied with a strong focus on written sources, visual art and oral traditions. Finally, the book explores the reception and re-usage of medieval saintly rhetoric in nineteenth-century and contemporary ethno-religious discourses in Armenia and Georgia.