A Neglected Armenian Source of the Late Umayyad Era

Abstract

The Armenian Martyrdom of Vahan of Gołt‘n, composed in 744 CE, offers a fresh perspective from which to study the Umayyad caliphate. A sophisticated literary composition assembled in a monastic context, the Martyrdom traces contemporary networks of power, communication, and knowledge within and beyond Armenia. As a product of the late Umayyad world, it constitutes a work of major significance for the study of the Umayyad caliphate at large and the caliphal North in particular during the first half of the eighth century. The Martyrdom reveals contemporary Armenian perceptions of Umayyad hegemony, including ʿaṭā (stipend) payments, public executions, conversions, apostasy, contemporary apologetics, and the nature of Caliph Hishām’s court at Ruṣāfa. At the same time, it portrays members of the Armenian elite, lay and clerical, reacting in different ways to new political circumstances. The present article provides the first annotated English translation and extensive thematic introduction to the Martyrdom of Vahan of Gołt‘n, with the aim of making the text accessible to Islamicists and thereby integrating this rich source into discussions of the late Umayyad era.