ABSTRACT
The work of the Vienna School has concentrated mainly on the formation of peoples in the northern part of the Roman Empire. However, during the period in which Goths, Vandals and Avars become visible in written sources, we also see communities with more or less ethnic features emerging in the east. Interestingly, these groups were linked with positions taken in the Christological debates of the fifth century. Christians living in the realm of Rome’s mightiest enemy, the Persians, adopted Dyophysitism, the idea that Christ’s humanity and divinity constituted two distinct natures. Up until today they form the Syriac-speaking Church of the East (formerly known as the Nestorian Church). Within the Roman Empire, but close to the eastern border, we find the Armenians, the West Syrians, the Copts, and further south the Nubians and Ethiopians. These all adopted Miaphysitism: the idea that in the person of Christ, divinity and humanity were united in one nature.
