Vayots‘ Dzor, Syunik‘ and the World: Global Transformations and Local Dynamics between the 9th and 14th Centuries

An exploration of the long-term history of the Vayots‘ Dzor province and the village of Yeghegis leads to a novel explanation of these areas’ centrality in certain periods. Particularly in the ninth and tenth centuries and again in the thirteenth and fourteenth, both Vayots‘ Dzor and Yeghegis experienced unprecedented periods of flourishing. This study takes a two-tiered scale of analysis: vertical, tracing the region’s internal dynamics, its rulers – first from the ancient Syuni, then the Orbelean and Khaghbakean dynasties – and their strategies of territorial control; then horizontal, looking at shifts and transformations on the regional and continental scale, with reverberations in the local context of Yeghegis. The article points to continuities and ruptures in the social and geopolitical organization of Yeghegis and the Vayots‘ Dzor region, as well as to the impact of these on the sacred landscape through the sponsorship and foundation of religious institutions, sometimes including the deposition of relics by rulers. Also highlighted are the multiplicities and cultural entanglements in the village, particularly in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, as part of its rulers’ adaptations to ever-changing global circumstances.