Projects
Ideas about the ‘Holy Land' (P. Magdalino, A. Laiou, etc.), the Second Coming of Christ and the Year 1000 (B. McGinn, R. Landes, J. Fried, A. Gow, D. Verhelst, P. Riché, etc.), the Crusades (the literature on the topic is innumerable), jihad, etc. are well known and very well studied, too. The same could also be said about the relevant texts (chronicles, historical apocalyptic texts, etc.) and the symbols found there (the four Kingdoms, the beasts, the ‘Gog and Magog' peoples, etc.) where such notions appeared during the Christian Middle Ages as well as their connection to phenomena such as ‘pilgrims', ‘saints', ‘relics', etc. It is also known that ideas about the Messiah's coming around the mid-10th century were to be seen not only in the Christian societies in Europe but also amongst some Jewish literati from the Cordoba caliphate as well as Khazarian élite (Hasdai b. Shafrut and the Khazar king Joseph, respectively). And all this has its roots in the Old and New Testaments.
At the same time, it is still to be desired studies to appear that deal with another important question, namely the linkage between the understanding of the ‘own' Holy Land' (viewed as ‘New Israel(s)') and the geographic locations of the invaders that attacked these (New Israel(s)) polities before the Second Coming of Christ, on one hand, and the topos (of the original) ‘Holy Land', on the other; and all this seen through the prism of the real and/or imagined geography of both the ‘New Israel(s)' and the invading peoples. Who are all those invaders? Were they pagans only, labeled after the Holy Bible as "Gog and Magog"? Did the invaders always follow the archetypical direction of the coming ‘punishment' mentioned in the Bible (i.e., north), or not? Also, another question should be raised on as to the spread of this phenomenon, e.g. invading in/from the ‘Holy Land': was it typical only for the Christian polities, or was it also spread among Muslims, in Volga Bulgaria between 950s and 1230s, in particular. If so, what notions stood behind it? Was it the common heritage of Alexander the Great, an ‘ideal ruler' for both the Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages who was thought as the one who established...Volga Bulgaria? These, and other, questions will be asked in this research project.
At the same time, it is still to be desired studies to appear that deal with another important question, namely the linkage between the understanding of the ‘own' Holy Land' (viewed as ‘New Israel(s)') and the geographic locations of the invaders that attacked these (New Israel(s)) polities before the Second Coming of Christ, on one hand, and the topos (of the original) ‘Holy Land', on the other; and all this seen through the prism of the real and/or imagined geography of both the ‘New Israel(s)' and the invading peoples. Who are all those invaders? Were they pagans only, labeled after the Holy Bible as "Gog and Magog"? Did the invaders always follow the archetypical direction of the coming ‘punishment' mentioned in the Bible (i.e., north), or not? Also, another question should be raised on as to the spread of this phenomenon, e.g. invading in/from the ‘Holy Land': was it typical only for the Christian polities, or was it also spread among Muslims, in Volga Bulgaria between 950s and 1230s, in particular. If so, what notions stood behind it? Was it the common heritage of Alexander the Great, an ‘ideal ruler' for both the Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages who was thought as the one who established...Volga Bulgaria? These, and other, questions will be asked in this research project.