Professor Zara Pogossian Co-Organizes International Conference
Philosophy Professor Zara Pogossian is one of the organizers of the international conference “Politics, Art and Spirituality in the Kingdom of Vaspurakan,” which will be held in Paris on September 22 and 23.
The conference marks the eleven hundredth anniversary of the Church of Aghtamar, considered a masterpiece of medieval Armenian architecture. In a multi-disciplinary approach, the conference will explore the architecture of the monument, as well as attempt to decipher the symbolic and Biblical background of its sculptural and painted decorations, placing these analyses in the historical and cultural context of Armenia at the turn of the fist Millennium.
John Cabot University is pleased to be one of the sponsors of the conference, together with the Institute d’études avancées and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris.
In addition to being one of the co-organizers of the conference, Prof. Pogossian will give the paper “From Heraclius to Gagik: Veneration of the True Cross in Vaspuraka.”
Zara Pogossian teaches history and religion at John Cabot University. She holds an MA and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Central European University (Budapest, Hungary). Her field of specialization is Eastern Christian Churches and their history, with a particular emphasis on the history of Armenia and the Armenian Church during the Middle Ages. Her current research is focused on Armenian apocalyptic traditions, especially from the Cilician period (XI-XIII centuries), but she has explored those also during the Mongol domination of Greater Armenia in the XIII century. She is currently preparing a critical edition of an Armenian Apocalyptic text from the VII century known as Agatangel “On the End of the World.” Prof. Pogossian has also worked on female asceticism and ascetic communities in early Christian Armenia, as well as the role of women in the spread of Christianity in Armenia. She is in general interested in the place of monastic establishments, especially from the IX c. on, as form of economic and political control of territory on the part of secular lords/kings. She is author of the volume The Letter of Love and Concord, (Brill 2011, which was highly acclaimed by reviewers, as well as numerous articles and book reviews. She has also organized various conferences and workshops in Italy, Germany, Hungary and in France.
Download the complete conference program.
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