Illustrations of Cilician Armenians 13th-14th Century

[druzhina345]

The T'oros Roslin (or Sebastia) Gospels of Cilician Armenia, 1262
Folio 19r Return of the Magi
Folio 48r Christ Predicting the Sufferings of the Apostles
Folio 116v Betrayal of Christ

Folio 124r The Crucifixion
Folio 128v Soldiers Bribed by the Chief Priests
Folio 190r Judas Leads the Multitude
Folio 191r Apostle Fleeing
Folio 195r Christ is Scourged
Folio 305r Peter Denies Christ

From a Histoire d'Outremer c.1287
Turks and Armenians meeting at the foot of a mountain and signing a peace treaty

Armenian translation of Pseudo-Callisthenes’ History of Alexander the Great, c.1300-1325 by the scribe Nerses.
Armenian Cavalry, c.1300–1325AD
Armenian ruler addreses his army
Enthroned Armenian ruler and armoured guard


MIRROR SITES

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Turks and Armenians meeting at the foot of a mountain and signing a peace treaty
Armenian Cavalry, c.1300–1325AD
Armenian ruler addreses his army
Enthroned Armenian ruler and armoured guard

druzhina345
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Pardon my ignorance but what is a Cilician Armenian? I've heard of Armenians but Cilician Armenian, did Armenia control Cilicia or something?

[Spear Dog]

^ just googled it. Yes.

[ivan_the_terrible]

It wasn't strictly 'Armenia' that controlled it, but rather a collection of Armenian lords who had fled the Turkish incursions into their ancestral homeland.

It's worth noting that Armenians in general were quite numerous and prominent in the region at the time. They frequently surface in sources as local notables throughout the Levant (sometimes as converts to Islam, though often not). It seems there were also numerous Armenian communities throughout the region, both urban and rural.

In Cilician Armenia they were numerous and influential enough to have formed a distinct political unit (a duchy and later a kingdom) which figured prominently in the crusades. There was even a nominal union proclaimed with the Roman Church in around 1200 or something (I can't remember exactly), hence the rulers' recognition in Europe as 'kings'. Royal Armenian ties to Latin Christendom remained even after the fall of Acre in 1291, a number of notable Armenians having joined the Franciscan order.

Hayton of Corycos, is notable for having written one of the few widely-read descriptions of the East, known as Flor des estoires d'Orient (the only other widely-read descriptions were Marco Polo's and Odoric of Pordenone's travel accounts). He was responsible for shaping much of the late medieval view of the world.

[ArmoredCore]

Cilician Armenia represents the remnant of the original Armenian Christian kingdoms which were subjugated by the Central Asian hordes who converted to Islam like the Seljuks. They moved out of their original heartland and into Cilicia and intermarried with the Crusaders, as the kingdom of Cilicia. But the roots of this state goes back to the Crusader state of Edessa which was formed between the Crusaders and Armenians. ( I would actually that the Crusaders subjugated the Armenians by forced but hey....)

Unfortunately because of the Turkish destruction of their homelands and these regions still being under Islamic rule, a lot of their history is lost or not well documented as it should be. And also because of a lot of western bias, a lot of the Armenian influences on the Crusaders is downplayed.

But suffice to say, Armenia proper was one of the first nations to adopt Christianity and laid a lot of the foundations for modern Christian culture in terms of architecture, dress and so forth from the 3rd and 4th century onwards. And of course that is built on the even older culture of ancient Armenia which goes back thousands of years. This ancient culture had ties to Asssyria and Babylon and then Parthian and Sassanid Persia and was well known for its cavalry forces at one time under the Byzantines.