STUDIES ON THE ORIENTAL SOURCES AND HISTORIOGRAPHY IN ARMENIA (EARLY Ծր․Ամփ․վերջն1 a5 | Page 28

Դորֆման-Լազարև Իգոր - Dorfman-Lazarev Igor -
Дорфман-Лазарев Игорь
Պարականոն գրականութիւնը և արքայութեան գաղափարը
Գագիկ Արծրունու օրօք (908 – 943/44)
The Christians inhabiting dar al-Islam had, as a rule, been
prohibited to erect new churches. The exceptionally abundant deco-
ration of Gagik’s palatine church of the Holy Cross at Ałtʽ amar
(915–921) is a celebration of the newly reacquired sovereignty: an
anonymous Continuator to Thomas Arcruni’s History, writing
under Gagik’s patronage, dedicates an entire chapter to the
‘Building of the Holy Church, Most Magnificent and Worth Lauds,
Which is in the City of Ałt‘amar’. The iconographic programme of
the church, and particularly various kingly figures found on its
walls, must be regarded as a fruit of the reflection—theological and
political—on the image of a king and on the idea of an Armenian
kingship restituted after half a millennium in an utterly different
world.
At the centre of the east façade of the church is carved an
imago clipeata of Adam. It is surrounded by the images of animals
to which Adam has given names. Significantly, here we see Adam
not in Paradise: he is clad and evinces features of an elder. This is a
very different depiction from the young Adam in the scene of the
fall, which is carved on the north elevation of the church. The
artists thus suggest that he who from the outset was called to have
dominion over all living beings, maintains his royal dignity also
after the fall. Adam’s gaze turns to the east whence he and the ani-
mals surrounding him (Hos. 2. 20; Is. 11. 6-7 (cf. 65. 25); Rom. 8.
19-22; Mk. 1. 13; II Baruch 73. 6a; Ps.-Mt. 18. 2–19. 2.) expect the
rise of the ‘Sun of justice’ (Mal. 3. 20; Mt. 24. 27). The solemnity
of this medallion, carved on the reverse of the church sanctuary—
far above the head of the beholder—elevates the representation of
the lord of the animal world to the rank of a sacred image.
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