Armenian-Ethiopian connections. 23-26, May 2023, Rome, École française de Rome

The PI Pogossian participated at a conference held at the École française de Rome, within another ERC project HornEast. The conference title was Ethiopians Abroad in the Middle Ages (program and abstracts). Building on her previous research on Armenian-Ethiopian connections during the middle ages, Prof. Pogossian’s talk focused on the monk Ewosṭatwos and his journey from Ethiopia to Armenia in the context of Armenian-Ethiopian entanglements during the Middle Ages.

The paper first looked at the evidence on increased direct contacts between Armenians and Ethiopia in the context of Fatimid Egypt and Cilician Armenia. The voyage of the celebrated monk and saint Ewosṭatwos to 'Armenia' in the 14^th century was viewed as part of this process. It then focused especially on the various hypotheses regarding the location of Ewosṭatwos' grave and argued for the plausibility of the data found in the versions of the Galda Ewosṭatwos (Life of Ewosṭatwos), which had been questioned by G. Fiaccadori. Evidence from epigraphy and Armenian hagiography was presented in support of the evidence in this Ethiopian source.