ABSTRACT

Images of medieval rulers, like ceremonial, served to visually characterize royal power and piety.1 Any assessment of the visual expression of medieval Armenian rulership during the Bagratuni period is hampered by the scarcity of surviving works of art and architecture. Few sculptures and fewer painted images survive. The Bagratuni kings did not mint their own coins, further reducing the possible sources of royal representation.2 The successive foreign invasions of Armenia in the fifth through the ninth centuries have left only a few surviving examples and, as we shall see, those remaining from the tenth and eleventh centuries are scarcely more numerous.3 Modern conflicts have frequently led to the further damage or destruction of surviving works, or have prevented their proper archaeological exploration.